Hogwarts: A Story
by UnchainedMelody94
Summary: The Dark Lord's daughters arrive at Hogwarts,mysteries unravel, secrets expose and Snape gets in some sticky situations. Starts off slow - gets better a few chapters in. This is my 1st fic so be kind! R&R xx
1. Arriving

Chapter 1 - Arriving

A girl sat on a train looking out of the window at the deep purple sky above mountains and forests. The train seemed to be slowing down and the butterflies in the girl's stomach grew ever more excited. A voice echoed through the train; 'We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train; it will be taken to the school separately.'

The girl looked round at the others in the compartment with her; they were talking excitedly among themselves. She had not spoken at all throughout the journey apart from when she had introduced herself as Leanne Burress. Leanne Burress was slightly taller than average, with large chocolate brown eyes, pale, clear skin and dark brown hair hanging in ringlets reaching the small of her back. She had grown up with a family which had adopted her after she had been left on their doorstep as a baby. Her adoptive mother and older sister were witches, but her mother had died a year ago. Her adoptive father was – well, how to put it – he wasn't a good man. He had been abusive and hated the very idea of magic, so he got it into his head that he could stop the three of them from using it if he beat them enough. Thankfully, after the girl's mother, Janine, died he left, but after Leanne's older sister, Cree, went to Hogwarts, she was left to fend for herself in a small dingy flat.

The train slowed right down and finally came to a stop. People pushed their way towards the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Leanne shivered slightly in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students and a voice called out: 'Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here! All right there Harry?' A big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads at a timid looking boy with messy black hair and glasses. 'C'mon, follow me – any more firs'-years? Mind yer step, now! Firs'-years follow me!'

Slipping and stumbling, they followed the giant down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was dark so there must be trees either side of them thought Leanne. Nobody spoke much. A boy just to the right of Leanne sniffed once or twice. 'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' The giant called over his shoulder,' jus' round this bend here'

There was a loud 'Ooooh!'

The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

'No more'n four to a boat' The giant called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Leanne stood back until everyone else had got into a boat, for everyone had been pushing and shoving so they could sit with their friends. Finally she got into a boat with three boys, one of which had a pale pointed face and platinum blond hair, and the 

other two who looked like gormless thugs. An image of her father flashed in Leanne's mind as she looked at them, so she gave a swift smile which they ignored and faced away from them.

'Everyone in?'The giant shouted, who had a boat to himself, 'Right then – FORWARD!'

And the little fleet of boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the castle ahead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

'Heads down!' Yelled the giant as the boats reached the first cliff; they all bent their heads as the boats carried them through a curtain of ivy which hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel which seemed to be taking them underneath the castle, until they reached some kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto the rocks and pebbles.

'Oy, you there! Is this your toad?' Said the giant, who was checking in the boats as people got out of them.

'Trevor!' cried the boy who had sniffed earlier, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass in the shadows of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded round the huge, oak front door.

'Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?'

The giant raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.


	2. Sorted

Chapter 2 – Sorted

The door swung open at once. A tall black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and didn't look like the type of woman you would want to cross.

'The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,' said the giant.

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.

She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was very large and the stone walls were lit with flaming torches. The ceiling was hard to make out as it was so far up and there was a magnificent marble staircase opposite them which led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flag stoned floor. The drone of hundreds of voices could be heard from the doors to the right of them – that must be where the rest of the school is, Leanne thought. However, instead of being led through to there, the first years were taken to an empty chamber off to the side. Once in the first years crowded in standing close together, all apart from Leanne, who had a dislike for crowds.

'Welcome to Hogwarts' said Professor McGonagall. 'The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the great hall you will be sorted into houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Griffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose your house points. At the end of the year the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.'

'The sorting ceremony will begin in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school so I suggest you try and smarten yourselves up.' Her eyes lingered for a few moments on some boys in the crowd as they nervously tried to correct themselves.

'I shall return when we are ready for you' said Professor McGonagall, 'please wait quietly.'

Leanne leaned against the wall and idly watched and listened as the others panicked at what was to happen next and how they would be sorted. She shook her head in disbelief. Her older sister Cree had told her exactly what happened so she wasn't worried. She didn't try to correct them either as they pondered or for want of a better word, panicked if they would have to perform magic in front of the whole school. Leanne rested her head against the wall and let her eyes close as she placed her hand on her temple; her head was throbbing. She did, however, look up when everybody gasped and screamed; several ghosts 

had floated through the wall. This didn't faze Leanne either, so she closed her eyes again and ignored them.

Professor McGonagall returned and the ghosts floated away one by one.

'Now form a line' she said 'and follow me'

They followed her in to the great hall – it was magnificent! Thousands of candles hung in the air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. The ceiling was bewitched to look the sky outside according to Leanne's sister and a girl further up the line. They came to a halt in front of the teachers table. Professor McGonagall placed a four legged stool here, with a hat sitting on top of it. After a few seconds of silence a rip opened up at the brim and the hat began to sing;

Oh, you may think I'm not pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat then me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top-hats sleek and tall,

For I am the Hogwarts sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Griffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Griffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps is Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a thinking cap!

The whole hall burst in to applause as the hat finished its song. All the first years looked relieved that all they had to do was try on a hat, which forced Leanne to stifle a laugh.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. 'When I call your name you will put on the hat and sit in the stool to be sorted' she said 'Abbot, Hannah'

A pink-faced girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell down right over her eyes, and sat down. A moments' pause – 'HUFFLEPUFF'

The table on the right clapped as Hannah went and sat down with them.

'Bones, Susan'

'HUFFLEPUFF' shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. Leanne's heart started beating faster as she realised that it would be her turn soon.

'Bullstrode, Millicent' Then became a Slytherin.

'My name should be next' thought Leanne as she prepared herself to walk down to the stool. 'Burress, Leanne'. Taking a deep breath, Leanne walked confidently up to the stool, put the hat on and sat down. A voice spoke in her head.

'Well, well, well' It said, 'Another tricky mind, eh? Let's see... Strong morals, great mind and not much care for breaking rules' the hat chuckled.

'Only rules that need to be broken' Leanne replied

'Of course, I can see that now. You have qualities that would place you in all four houses, therefore I shall put you in... GRYFFINDOR!' The hat shouted the last word for the whole school to hear and the said table burst into applause as Leanne removed the hat and went to join them. Many of the boys seemed to be wolf-whistling at her so she just gave a small smile and sat down next to a girl.

She watched as 'Granger, Hermione' became a Griffindor, and when 'Longbottom, Neville', the boy who lost his toad, ran off with the hat. The ceremony continued as normal until the name 'Potter, Harry' was called out. Upon hearing the name whispers broke out all over, the Great Hall.

'Potter, did she say'

'The Harry Potter'

Leanne had heard stories of Harry Potter from her mother when she was little so she sat up a little straighter and tried to get a better look at him – he had black, messy hair, bright green eyes and wore glasses. A few moments later the hat called out 'GRYFFINDOR' and Harry came and sat down opposite Leanne. After the Sorting ceremony had finished the feast began and Leanne joined in the conversations, but when the topic of family came up, she tried to avoid answering questions – she hated telling people she was adopted and having to see their faces show either forced or real sympathy, both were getting annoying. After a while though she couldn't avoid it any longer, so when asked she simply said 'I'm adopted, my adoptive mother's dead, my adoptive father left, so me and my sister live on our own in a flat. I don't know who my real parents are.' Then a boy named Ron Weasley spoke 'Is your sister at Hogwarts?'

'Yes. That's her over there, talking to the blond boy.' She said pointing over to the Slytherin table 'She's in Slytherin'

'Oh' he said flatly.

'Does that mean you lived on your own for a year when she was at Hogwarts?' The boy called Harry Potter had joined in the conversation.

'Yes' Leanne replied, 'I would sing to earn money for myself because I didn't know I had a few vaults of money in Gringotts!' She said laughing slightly.

Harry smiled at this and Ron said in amazement 'What do you mean a _few_ vaults?'

'Cree and I have three vaults between us'

'Bloody hell' Ron gasped

Upon hearing Ron's exclamation a few people in the vicinity turned round and asked what was wrong.

'Nothing!' Leanne said hurriedly, wanting to avoid more questioning about her family, 'nothing's wrong!'

'Who the hell were your parents?'Ron asked 'Ministers for magic or something?'

At this Leanne laughed 'Somehow I don't think either of them would be too popular with the public!'

'I thought you said you didn't know who your parents were' Harry said frowning

'I... uh... well, I... I don't really' Leanne stammered, 'All I know is that my parents left me with a random family they didn't even Know, and I think that someone who could do that, wouldn't be very nice people.'

'Oh right... well, erm... sorry'

Leanne shook her head and smiled, starting to feel uncomfortable thinking about a family that she never knew. Fortunately Harry noticed and changed the subject. Leanne spent the rest of the evening in silent contemplation and was only too glad when Professor Dumbledore announced it was bedtime. The first years followed the prefects up the Gryffindor tower, where Leanne bid goodnight to Harry and Ron. She went up to her dormitory with Hermione Granger, where they got changed and started discussing lessons, before they dropped off to sleep.


	3. The First week

Chapter 3 – the first week

The next morning Leanne left the dormitory with Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil to try and find their way around the school – Hermione had left earlier. They managed to get lost quite a few times – Hogwarts was so confusing. There were a hundred and forty-two staircases in all: wide, sweeping ones; narrow rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; some with a vanishing step half-way up that had to remember to jump. Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid wall just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. The people in portraits kept going to visit each other and Leanne was sure the armour could walk.

The ghosts didn't help either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. Nearly headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, but Peeves the poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. He would drop waste paper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose and screech, 'GOT YOUR KONK!'

Even worse than Peeves were the care-taker Argus Filch and his scrawny cat Mrs. Norris. It was the students' dearest ambition to give the cat a good kick. And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the lessons themselves. There was a lot more to magic than waving your wand and saying a few words.

They had to study the night sky through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the different names of stars and their movements. Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study herbology, with a dumpy little called Professor Sprout.

Easily the most boring lesson was history of magic, which was the only class taught by a ghost – Professor Binns – who had fallen asleep in the staffroom and got up to teach one morning and left his body behind.

Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first lesson he took the register, and when he reached Harry Potter's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.

Professor McGonagall was, again, different. She was strict and clever and didn't stand for any nonsense. At the beginning of the very first lesson she gave a lecture about transfiguration and then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realised they wouldn't be changing 

furniture into animals for a very long time. They were each given a match to try and turn it in to a needle which proved to be very difficult, and by the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger and Leanne had made any difference to their matches, and she gave them a rare smile.

The class a lot of people had been looking forward to Defence against the Dark Arts DADA for short, but it turned out to be a joke – Professor Quirrell seemed to be frightened of his own job and didn't want to talk about his achievements.

On Friday the Gryffindors had double potions with the Slytherins. The potions teacher, Professor Snape was head of Slytherin and, according to Cree, he favoured his own house.

Potions lessons took place down in the dungeons, where it was much colder than the rest of the castle. Snape, like Flitwick, started the lesson by taking the register, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.

'Ah, yes,' he said softly, 'Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity_.'

Some boys from Slytherin sniggered at this. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. He had beetle black eyes, which were cold and empty.

'You are here to learn to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making,' he began in barely a whisper, but they caught every word, 'as there is little foolish wand waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate powder of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory and even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'

More silence finished this speech as many of the class members exchanged glances. Leanne however felt a shudder run through her, which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and goose-pimples to form on her arms, as her and Snape's eyes met. Next to her, Hermione was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.

'Potter!' said Snape suddenly, taking his eyes off Leanne, 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'

Leanne looked over at Harry, who look stumped, then at Hermione whose hand was in the air. Leanne also knew this but she didn't raise her hand; she was still shaking at the look Professor Snape had given her.

'I don't know sir, 'said Harry.

Snape's lip curled into a sneer.

'Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything' He said, ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.

Snape then proceeded to question Harry further and took a point off Gryffindor when Harry suggested he ask Hermione. The class was then told write down the correct answers and Snape then put them into pairs to work on a simple potion to cure boils. He walked around criticising everyone's work, but when he reached Hermione and Leanne's cauldron he found a perfectly brewing potion, so he said nothing and swept off. He was just telling everyone to look at the way Malfoy (who he seemed to like) had stewed his horned slugs perfectly, when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus' cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds the whole class was standing on the chairs while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

'Idiot boy!' Snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. 'I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?'

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up on his nose.

'Take him to the hospital wing,' Snape spat to Seamus, then rounded on Harry and Ron who had been working next to Neville, and started blaming them for some absurd reason and deducted another point from Gryffindor. An hour later the only ones to have successfully completed their potion were Hermione and Leanne, and Snape, being who he was, carefully ignored this.

At the end of the day, Leanne was hailed by her sister and friends to go and join them by the lake.

'What's up?' Cree said casually as they walked. Cree looked a bit like Leanne; same brown eyes and same colour hair. The only differences were; Cree was slightly taller, a year older, and her hair was straight, layered and only went to her shoulders, and there were very small differences in their faces.

'Not much. Had a crappy first week; we did barely any magic and the stuff we did do was way too easy' Leanne said stretching slightly. They all sat down beside the lake and Cree began introducing everyone.

'Everyone, this is my sister Leanne, Leanne this Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Zabini Blaise, Agnes Mitchell, Patrick Garner, Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy is the one who's coming from the castle now'

Leanne turned around to see the blond boy she shared a boat with approaching them. Upon reaching them he looked at Leanne and sneered.

'What're you doing over here, you're a Gryffindor.'

Leanne opened her mouth to speak but Cree stepped in and said cool 'This is my sister Malfoy, her name's Leanne, so watch it!'

At this Malfoy raised his eyebrows and laughing slightly, said to Cree 'Then how did she end up in Gryffindor?' and without waiting for an answer he sat down and motioned for everyone else to do the same. He then started off a conversation about families and the importance of blood status, they went off on a rant about his family and how they had always been pure blood. Leanne started to drift off into her own world, but was brought to her senses when he told them that his family had always been in Slytherin, for that's when the bell rang for dinner.

Leanne bid goodbye to the Slytherins and joined Harry and Ron who were coming back from Hagrid's hut.

'Hey,' Leanne said to them

'Hi Leanne,' said Harry, 'erm... what were you doing with all those Slytherins?'

'Talking' she said shortly, but upon seeing the incredulous looks on their faces she added, 'I wouldn't have if Cree wasn't there but she made me join them.'

''Kay' Ron said as they walked across the entrance hall towards dinner.


	4. Snape's reverie

Chapter four – Snape's reverie

It was getting late and Severus Snape was busy marking papers when a soft knock came at his door.

'Enter' he called without looking up. The door opened and someone walked into his office and shut the door quietly behind them. He looked up to see none other than Leanne Burress leaning against the door looking at him, a small smile playing on her lips.

'Miss Burress' Snape said, rising out of his chair and moving around his desk 'What can I do for you at this late hour'

Leanne said nothing however, and continued to look at him, still smiling.

'Miss Burress, I advise you go back to your dormitory if this is not an emergency' Snape said becoming slightly annoyed.

'What's wrong with a girl wanting to see her favourite potions teacher?' Leanne asked playfully as she came away from the door and walked up to him, her hips swaying seductively. Snape froze and his breath caught in his throat as she looked up at him, no longer looking like the eleven year old girl he knew. She was standing too close for comfort and her hands were resting on his chest, gently tracing the seams of his robes. He needed to say or do something – this was wrong, more than wrong! At last he found his voice and said in barely a whisper

'What's wrong is it's way past your curfew and you shouldn't-' Leanne had pressed her finger against his lips to stop him from speaking and stood on her tip-toes so her face was barely an inch away from his, with her body pressed up against his and whispered

'Is this really such a bad thing?'

Slowly he lowered his lips to hers. His heart pounded painfully in his chest and he could feel himself throbbing in his lower regions as their lips touched, and –

A loud knocking at his door brought Snape out of his reverie. He jumped and shook himself slightly, trying to rid himself of those images.

'Enter' he called, trying to ignore the throbbing that was starting to become painful, and silently cursing whoever had brought him back to reality, then immediately mentally slapped himself for thinking such things.

Leanne walked across the grounds to where the flying lessons were being held. Unfortunately, the Gryffindors were teamed up with the Slytherins; something neither of the houses were too happy about.

They were, however, excited about the prospect of flying, and all throughout the day, Leanne had had to endure people boasting about how they had almost hit muggle helicopters or hang-gliders, which she found very hard to believe.

Leanne herself had never flown a broomstick, let alone ever owned one – if she had her father would probably have smashed it into little pieces and use it for fire-wood.

The Slytherins were already there when the Gryffindors arrived, and so were twenty broomsticks in neat lines. Leanne had heard the Weasley twins complain about the quality and performance of the school brooms, saying that they vibrated when you flew too high, or always fly slightly to the left.

Madam Hooch arrived shortly after. She had short grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk. Leanne wasn't really looking forward to flying and was immensely relieved when her sister Cree showed up and got her excused from it.

'I agreed to help Professor Snape with some extra work he had this year,' Cree explained as they walked towards the dungeons, 'and he said I should bring along someone else as well because there was too much for one person to do.'

They walked across the entrance hall and started descending in to the dungeons. Cree looked at Leanne and said

'He said I could bring anyone as long as they knew what they were doing' answering Leanne's unasked question.

Leanne nodded and followed her sister into the dungeons. They knocked on Snape's office door and received a slightly annoyed 'enter' from him.

The door to Snape's office opened and he looked up and received the shock of his life; the people entering his office were none other than Cree Burress and her sister, Leanne.

'Yes?' he asked, refusing to look at the younger of the two.

'You said you needed help with some work sir,' Cree said, 'and you said I should bring someone else along with me' motioning to her sister.

'Ah yes,' Snape said slowly, glancing towards Leanne, who had her eyes averted towards the floor, before saying 'Is she suitable for the job?' he asked, silently praying that she wasn't, but-

'Yeah, she probably knows more about potions than me'

Silently cursing, he motioned for the girls to enter his office, and to sit down at a desk where a couple of cauldrons sat along with ingredients, and told them to make some medicinal potions for Madam Pomfrey. He watched them as they lit fires under their cauldrons and began preparing ingredients, trying to ignore the throbbing which had grown almost unbearable when he saw Leanne. He couldn't understand why he felt this way about anyone, let alone a first year. True, she was rather beautiful and mature for her age, and she already had womanly curves, but the fact remained that this stuff was punishable by law!

'This is going to be one heck of a year' he thought bitterly, looking down at the essays he was marking. At that exact moment, Leanne looked up, thinking she felt his eyes on her, but saw him absorbed in marking, so she looked down again at her potion – a calming draft. She wanted to say 

something, just to break the silence, but Cree was too absorbed in making her potion to talk, and she had no intention of speaking to Snape, so she remained silent for the next couple of hours until they were finished. After they cleared everything away and bottled their potions they bid Snape goodbye and headed towards dinner, Leanne already regretting to help her sister with this, not that she had been given a choice when she had been practically dragged out of flying lessons.

Once in the Great Hall, they went their separate ways and Leanne headed off to join the Gryffindors. She was hailed by Harry, Ron, Fred and George to and sit with them.

'Where did you go during flying lessons?' Harry asked her as she sat down.

'Cree dragged me along to do some work with Professor Snape' Leanne replied miserably, 'now I have to go back every Thursday!'

'Ouch!' the Weasley twins said in unison with sympathetic looks on their faces

'That sucks!' exclaimed Ron, 'Anyway, you just missed the best lesson ever! Harry made an idiot out of Malfoy and got made Gryffindor Seeker for it!'

'What!? Really?'

'Yup!' Harry said cheerfully

'Congrats, on both accounts!' Leanne said grinning broadly.

'Yeah. Anyway we've got to go. Lee Jordan reckons he's found a new secret passageway out of the school.' Said Fred

'Bet it's the one behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy that we found in our first week. See you.' Said George.

They had barely disappeared when Malfoy and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, appeared behind them and Malfoy said

'Having a last meal Potter? When are you getting the train back to the muggles?'

'You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you,' Harry said coolly. There was of course nothing little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as the High Table was full of teachers; neither of them could do more than crack their knuckles and scowl.

'I'd take you on any time on my own,' said Malfoy. 'Tonight, if you want. Wizards duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose.'

'Of course he has,' said Ron, wheeling around. 'I'm his second, whose yours?'

Malfoy looked at Crabbe and Goyle sizing them up.

'Crabbe,' he said. 'Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked.'

When Malfoy had gone, Ron, Harry and Leanne looked at each other.

'What is a wizard's duel?' said Harry. 'And what do you mean, you're my second?'

'A second's there to take over if you die' said Ron casually.

Upon seeing the horrified look upon Harry's face Leanne quickly said

'But that only happens in proper duels. The most you and Malfoy will be able to do is send sparks at each other. Neither of you know enough magic to cause any real damage.'

'And what if I wave my wand and nothing happens?'

'Throw it away and punch him on the nose,' Ron suggested.

'Excuse me.'

All three of them looked up to see Hermione Granger.

'I couldn't help overhearing what you were saying-'

'Bet you could.' Muttered Ron

'- and you mustn't go wandering round the school at night, think of the points you'll lose if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you.'

'And it's really none of your business,' said Harry.

'Goodbye,' said Ron.


	5. Finding out

Chapter five – finding out

For Snape, nothing much happened over the next few years. He kept his burning desires to himself and was as sour and mean as ever. Leanne on the other hand became best friends with Harry potter and co. – something that annoyed Snape to no end. She accompanied Harry to the duel with Malfoy only to find out it was a set-up to get Harry in trouble and later that very same year she helped rescue the philosophers stone from the grasps of Lord Voldemort.

The next year the chamber of secrets had been opened and Leanne had been found petrified along with Penelope Clearwater and Hermione Granger, just as Hermione had figured out what the monster that was said to live in the chamber was. Cree had been distraught upon finding this out and had become ill with worry. Snape was also upset, but hid it so no-one would know that Leanne was more than just another Gryffindor to him.

It was not until Leanne's third year that all the teacher curiosity was peaked. First of all, she produced a full bodied patronus whilst surrounded by dementors for no apparent reason. It had been on the way to Herbology at the begging of the year, and around fifty dementors came swooping towards her. The rest of the class had run, but Leanne had stayed rooted to the spot, and then, without warning, a silvery dragon had burst forth from her wand, chasing the dementors away. She promptly fainted after such an exertion of her powers – she had never been a brilliant witch, just good enough as not to struggle. When she woke, she was questioned by Professor Lupin and Professor Dumbledore as to how she knew that spell, and how she could produce a fully formed one at that. They were even more mystified when she answered that she didn't even know what that spell was.

After the incident with the dementors, Leanne's magic began to flourish and grow, as if a switch had been turned on in her head. She became very powerful, which concerned the teachers to say the least. Her powers were greater than those of her sisters, who had always been brilliant. The only subject that Leanne had been better at than her sister was potions, which she seemed to have a natural talent for.

It was not until Leanne's fourth year that anything unusual happened.

She was in detention with Snape – again – for duelling with some fifth years that were picking on a younger student.

She was busy sorting out potion ingredients for the students store cupboard, when a searing pain shot through her left forearm. Snape and Leanne looked at each other, upon hearing their gasps of pain.

'Heh – coincidence or what?' Leanne joked, thoroughly disturbed.

Snape frowned at her, giving her a shrewd calculating look, before saying silkily

'Show me your arm, Miss Burress'

'What?' She asked, now thoroughly confused and disturbed

'You heard me; your arm,' He snapped, getting up from his desk and walking over to her.

Slowly and reluctantly, she rolled up her sleeve and showed him her arm. She had never wanted anyone to see it, for she had the most ridiculous tattoo there: it was a dark grey, almost black skull, with a serpent protruding from its mouth, and the eyes of the skull and snake were bright red. As he looked at her arm, Snape's expression became unreadable. He gripped her arm tightly making her wince in pain and looked up at her face.

'Where did you get this?' He growled 'Answer me!'

The harshness of his tone made Leanne jump and she tried to step backwards, but Snape's grip was like a vice holding her there.

'I – I don't know' Stammered Leanne

'DON'T LIE TO ME!' Snape bellowed his face only inches away from hers 'This is the Dark Mark, why do you have it?'

'Professor you're hurting me!' Leanne cried, tears forming in her eyes.

Snape threw her away from him and she landed roughly on the floor, crying in pain. She looked up about to say something, but froze when she saw Snape had his wand pointed at her.

'What the hell are you doing' exclaimed Leanne staring at the wand in Snape's hand, 'What the hell have I done?'

'QUIET! Why have you got the Dark Mark?'

'I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! What the hell is the Dark Mark? I've had this tattoo since as long as I can remember! And what the bloody hell do you think you're doing attacking me!?' Leanne screamed in quick succession, tears now pouring down her face.

Snape began advancing on her and without thinking Leanne whipped out her wand and hit Snape with a curse which sent him flying across the room. Without seeing if he was alright Leanne scrambled to her feet and was about to run out of the room when Snape sent a curse in her direction which she dodged. Within a second he was on his feet again, his wand at the ready, but Leanne was too quick for him and another curse hit him square in the chest, and he was blasted over his desk, hitting the wall behind it with a sickening crunch and the smashing of several glass jars that littered the shelves on his walls.

But Leanne hadn't noticed this; the second the spell made contact with Snape she was out of the door, running as fast as she could, still crying her eyes out. She didn't know where she was going as she ran past people who were just finishing dinner, not bothering to apologise as she pushed them out of the way as she ran across the entrance hall and out into the grounds. It was almost pitch black but she didn't light her wand. She just went where her feet carried her and before she knew it she was at the castle gates. She was going to leave Hogwarts; who knew what would happen to her after attacking and nearly killing a teacher, and what was so wrong with the thing on her arm – what if everyone found out and reacted like Snape did, they would surely kill her!

Leanne reached out for the gates and pushed them – they didn't move, so she tried an unlocking charm – no good, then a series of protection lifting curses – still no good. She kicked the gates in frustration and looked round desperately, trying to think of another way out of Hogwarts.

They would be looking for her by now; Snape would have told Dumbledore everything. She had to get out of the ground as quickly as possible. What if the asked Harry, she thought suddenly, Snape knows about the Marauder's Map!

Just then the idea struck her – the whomping willow! She could take the passage way to the shrieking shack and break a window or something to get out in to Hogsmead. Once she was out of the boundaries of Hogwarts the map wouldn't be able to locate her.

With a new-found determination Leanne began running towards the willow, sticking to the shadows, and praying beyond hope that they didn't already know where she was.

She reached the whomping willow and bewitched a stick to tap the part of the tree which would stop it from trying to kill her. Leanne hesitated before going in; Snape knew she knew about the secret passageway, she had been there last year too. She sighed and resigned herself to the fact that if she had to fight him again she would.

She entered the tunnel her wand held at the ready. At long last she came out in to the shack and listened intently for any sign of movement or sound of voices. Nothing could be heard so she conjured up a handful of flames like Professor Lupin had done the previous year.

Feeling exhausted Leanne sat down in the dusty kitchen and tried to regain her breath, but after a minute she simply put her head in her hands and cried.

Why was all this happening to her? She had only been back a week and was already being forced to leave for something that wasn't her fault. She should have gone to Professor Dumbledore first and explained that Snape was attacking her. But now, Leanne thought bitterly, Snape will have convinced everyone that I was attacking him and he was completely innocent. But what if he told them the truth, and they still blamed her because she had this 'Dark Mark' thing on her arm.

But then it hit her; the Dark Mark was the Death eaters' symbol! She hadn't seen it but she had heard about the incident at the World Cup, where it was plastered onto the sky and the Death Eaters had gone on a rampage.

'Oh Gods!' She thought out loud, 'They think I'm a death eater!'

'I assure you we do not'

Leanne jumped up and gasped as she heard Albus Dumbledore's voice come from the doorway to the kitchen. Quickly she raised her wand at the ready, preparing to defend herself if necessary.

'Please put down your wand Leanne I am not going to hurt you' he said calmly, as he walked further in to the room. Leanne took half a step backwards and raised her wand a little higher, readying her stance for battle. However Dumbledore just smiled and sat down at the table, opposite to where she had been sitting and motioned for her to do the same.

Slowly Leanne lowered her wand but didn't sit down, casting a wary eye towards the exit. At this Dumbledore chuckled.

'Don't worry I came alone; I seemed to think it was best, after hearing you attacked Professor Snape, I didn't think you would be too keen on him hunting you down.'

'Is that what he told you?' Leanne sneered, 'He didn't, by any chance, mention on what grounds I attacked him?'

'I did hear a brief summary' said Dumbledore calmly, 'but I would like to hear it from you too. Please sit down.'

After casting her eyes towards the exit once more, she obeyed him. When she reached the part about having the Dark Mark Dumbledore raised his eyebrows.

'May I see your arm?' he asked, and for a second time that day, she reluctantly rolled up her sleeve and showed him. He got up and came round the table to take a closer look.

'Where did you get these bruises?' he said, indicating where Snape had grabbed her.

'Professor Snape.' She said shortly. 'My arm hurt at the same time as his did so he asked to see it. He- became angry.'

'I see. Did you know what this was before Professor Snape pointed it out?' he said as he walked back around the table and sat down again.

'No.'

'Well, that mark is called the Dark Mark, but I am sure you know that by now. And as you rightly said it is the sign of a Death Eater. Lord Voldemort burned that mark into his followers' skin. It was a mark of loyalty to him.'

'Then why do I have it?' Leanne asked, she was a lot calmer now.

'I have a theory,' he said slowly, 'you are adopted, correct?'

'Yes.' She said, startled at this question. 'What's that got to do with anything, sir?'

'Look at your mark closely. Do you see how both the skull and the snake have red eyes?'

'Yes'

'Well a normal mark doesn't. Now around the time of Lord Voldemort's downfall there were rumours of the Dark Lord having two children – two girls.' At this he looked pointedly at her, and then it clicked.

'Wait!' Leanne gasped, aghast, 'You're not saying-'

Dumbledore nodded gravely. Leanne simply stared at him, lost for words. Tears formed in her eyes as she sat there deep in thought. Voldemort had been the most feared evil wizard in a century; he had killed, tortured and torn so many families apart. How could she be this monsters daughter? What would the whole school think if they found out, especially Harry; her father had killed his parents and then tried to kill him too. Would they expect her to turn out just like him? No, surely not – she was in Gryffindor, whilst he had been in Slytherin, but Cree...

'Miss Burress' Dumbledore said, snapping her out of her thoughts, 'perhaps we should head back to the castle. We can talk in my office about what is to happen.'

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Please tell me what you think 'nd thankz 4 readin' lol! xxx


	6. Explanations

Chapter 6 - Explanations

'What will happen to me next?' Leanne pondered as she followed Dumbledore back to the school.

As they entered the school they were met by a Prefect.

'Ah, you have found her sir? Shall I call off the search?'

'Yes that would be wise. Thank you.'

'Erm... there was a search on?' Leanne asked, her voice wavering.

'Oh yes. You gave us all quite a fright running off like that.' Said Dumbledore smiling slightly.

'I thought it would be more of a manhunt' Leanne said, mostly to herself.

Dumbledore simply chuckled and led Leanne to his office. The moment the door opened Leanne was met by a scream of 'LEANNE!' as Cree flung herself into her sister's arms.

'Oh gods Leanne! I was so worried about you! I thought you had run away for good.' She sobbed into Leanne's shoulder.

'I'm sorry' Leanne whispered, sobbing equally as hard, 'I didn't mean to scare you I just wasn't thinking straight.' She looked over her sister's shoulder and to her horror saw a very angry Professor Snape standing there. Leanne released her sister gently as Dumbledore closed the door behind him and sat down behind his desk, motioning for the three of them to do the same. The two girls sat down opposite Dumbledore's desk, Snape however, remained standing.

'Right,' said Dumbledore, gaining everyone's attention, 'First of all I would like to discuss the matter of what happened tonight. I have heard brief summaries of what happened from the two of you' he said motioning to Snape and Leanne, 'but I think the Cree and I would like to hear the full story'

Leanne began to talk.

'Well, I was in detention with Professor Snape because I was caught duelling with some Slytherin fifth years because they were picking on a younger student from Gryffindor. Whilst in detention my arm, where I have the mark, hurt at the same time professor Snape's did. I thought it was just some sort of coincidence.'

At this point Leanne pause, unsure of what to say next when Snape took over the Story.

'I asked to her arm when this happened because I could see in her mind that she was trying to hide something from everyone. I became suspicious when she was reluctant to show me, and when I saw the Dark Mark I jumped to the conclusion that she was a death eater. The Dark Mark has been growing darker for a while now and that could only mean one thing; that the Dark Lord is regaining strength. I knew this would not be possible unless he was receiving help from a very talented follower, and there is no denying that Miss Burress is an extraordinarily talented and powerful witch.'

Leanne looked up at this; was it just her or had he just complimented someone who wasn't in Slytherin?

'Very well,' said Dumbledore, 'what happened after you saw she had the Dark Mark?'

'I questioned her as to why she had it and when she didn't tell me I became angry. I couldn't tell whether she was lying or not; her mind is very well protected, even to me, and this heightened my suspicion further; it is almost impossible for a mere fourth year to be able to perform occlumency that well, especially under pressure.'

'This was when I attacked him,' Leanne interjected quickly; 'I was scared, I panicked and hit him with a spell and ran. He tried to stop me with his wand, but I just hit him with another spell.' She didn't know why, but for some reason she didn't want them to know it had been Snape that drew his wand first. It was probably that she didn't want to seem to be playing the sympathy card.

For the briefest of moments, Leanne's and Snape's eyes met as she glanced at him; he was giving her a shrewd calculating look, and was obviously wandering why she had not admitted that it was him who attacked first.

'I suppose this was when you ran out into the grounds and tried to leave Hogwarts' Dumbledore sighed, looking grave. Leanne nodded.

'I tried opening the gates first with some enchantment lifting spells, but that didn't work, so I went to the shrieking shack, planning to get out in to Hogsmead, but I was tired so I rested for a minute and that's when you found me.' Leanne said looking at Dumbledore, and then said as an afterthought, 'And to think; if I hadn't stopped to rest I would most likely have gotten away.'

'Do you still wish to leave?' Dumbledore asked quietly, leaning forward slightly.

Leanne looked down at her knees, not knowing exactly what to say, but was saved the troubled of answering when Cree spoke.

'Um... So this Dark Mark thing? Leanne's got one hasn't she? And so have I? But the Dark Mark is Voldemort's sign and we've had these things since birth, so does that mean our real parents were death eaters or something? And why does Professor Snape have a Mark if he's 

working at Hogwarts, I mean, he must have a Mark if his arm hurt at the same time as Leanne's and the thing hurting is a sign of the Dark Lord growing stronger, right?'

'I will tell you' said Dumbledore slowly, leaning forward and looking at the girls intensely, 'but you must promise that what you hear stays in this room.'

The girls nodded and promised not to repeat a single word to anyone.

'It is true that Professor Snape was once a Death Eater, but prior to Lord Voldemort's downfall, he turned spy for us at great personal risk. And you were partly right about your parents. I imagine that your mother was a death eater, but your father, I'm afraid, was Lord Voldemort himself, that is why your Marks have red eyes if you look closely.'

Cree looked at her Mark then up at Dumbledore, 'Are- are you sure?'

Dumbledore nodded gravely. 'The normal mark doesn't have red eyes. If professor Snape will be kind enough to show you?'

It was apparent that Snape wasn't happy about this, but after a murderous glance towards the headmaster he rolled up his left sleeve and showed his Mark to the girls. It was true; Snape's Mark had no red in it whatsoever. Leanne nodded and looked sideward's at Cree, and didn't like the look that was in her eyes; it unnerved her. Finally Cree also nodded and Snape rolled his sleeve back down. Cree was the first to speak.

'When you say that Voldemort is getting stronger, what do you mean? I thought he was dead.'

Strangely enough it was Leanne who answered this.

'Do you remember when Harry, Ron, Hermione and I rescued the philosophers stone in our first year?'

Cree nodded.

'Well, I never told you this but Harry and I ran in to Voldemort when we were down there. He said the night he attacked Harry and his family he was ripped from his body, less than a spirit, less than the meanest ghost, I think he said.'

Cree simply stared at her sister, completely aghast at what she was saying. 'You met the Dark Lord? And you never told me?'

'I didn't want to worry you.'

'Anyway,' said Dumbledore, interrupting before Cree started screaming at her sister, 'We believe that the Dark Lord is regaining strength, and that at least one of his followers has returned to him. And now I also believe that if any death eaters or Voldemort found out about the two of you, you may become a target for them, so it is important that you don't 

tell anyone about your heritage. Now, if you would be so kind as to head back to your house, I would like to have a word with Professor Snape and your sister alone.'

Cree nodded and cast a worried glance towards Leanne before standing up bidding them all goodnight and exiting the office. Once alone none of them spoke for a minute; Leanne was staring at her knees, Snape was staring out of the window, and Dumbledore's eyes flickered between them.

'Now,' he said, once again gaining their attention, 'as for the matters of what happened in detention tonight. Attacking a teacher is a serious offence Leanne, I think you know that.'

Leanne nodded and looked back down at her knees, tears threatening her eyes again.

'Also, Severus, threatening a student is also a serious offence, you know that'

Snape also nodded his face expressionless.

'However I think it is best if we leave the situation as it is and forget about it. I trust it will never happen again?'

'Yes sir' said Leanne whereas Snape just nodded, both of them looking slightly relieved.

'Now, Severus if you would be so kind as to escort Miss Burress down to the hospital wing, a lot has happened tonight.'

Snape nodded and headed out of the office with Leanne after they had both bid goodnights to Dumbledore. They walked through the empty halls in silence; it was now past curfew so everyone was back in their houses. Neither of them spoke until they reached the hospital wing and Leanne turned to Snape and said

'I'm sorry sir, for attacking you, I was just- scared.' She said this whilst staring at the floor, unable to bring herself to meet his gaze.

'I understand,' he said in a soft voice which startled Leanne; she had only ever heard him use harsh tones – this was, nice somehow. 'I, too, am sorry, but you have to understand; the last time the Dark Lord was in power, were the darkest times, and we all lived in fear of that – of him. We must do anything to prevent it from happening again!'

'Yes sir, I understand. Goodnight.' Leanne turned to enter the hospital but Snape called her back.

'Miss Burress, a question if you please?'

'Yes, sir?'

'Why did you not tell the headmaster about me hurting you?'

'I- I don't know sir. I guess I just didn't think it was relevant'

'Not relevant!?' he said almost angrily, 'I was about ready to kill you!'

Leanne looked up at him as he said this. He had taken a step forward and was now standing uncomfortably close to her, and his eyes were ablaze with what looked like incredulity and anger at himself.

'But you didn't sir' She said, trying to sound a lot calmer than she actually was. In truth her heart had begun to race and she knew something was about to happen; she got this feeling every time her father was about to beat her, but never once did she back down. But then Snape did something totally unexpected. He hooked his finger under her chin and brought his face very close to hers. Slowly and gently he kissed her. Leanne felt as if she was about to explode as she felt the most amazing feeling build up inside of her, which left her light headed and dizzy. After a few seconds they parted and Leanne looked up in to Snape's eyes, wondering what had just happened.

For a moment, Snape's face was blank, then, as if he just then realised what he had done, his eyes widened in shock and he took a step back from her looking horrified.

'Wha-' Leanne managed to say in a rather strained voice, but before she could say anything else, Snape turned around and left hurriedly. It took a moment for Leanne's brain to process what had just happened, but then it clicked – Snape had just _kissed_ her! Professor hate-all-students-not-close-to-anybody-ex-death-eater-Snape, had just kissed her!

She leant against the wall and sank down so she was sitting on the floor.

'Why did he do that?' thought one part of her brain, whilst the other part went 'That kiss was bloody amazing!'

'Hey, I did NOT just think that!' Leanne said sitting bolt upright. Slowly she stood up and briefly wandered what she was doing outside the hospital wing. Remembering, she entered her head still full of the kiss.


	7. The Imperious curse

Chapter seven – The Imperious curse

The next morning Leanne woke up with a pounding headache, after a long series of confusing dreams, which involved her being killed by Snape because she had went over to the Dark Side, while he confessed his undying love for her – it had all seemed too real for her liking.

She opened her eyes blearily and looked around her to see she was in the hospital wing; madam Pomfrey had insisted she stay the night. It must be about time for breakfast so she got up and dressed herself before she heard madam Pomfrey bustling over to her.

'Ah, you're awake! Well if you're feeling better I suggest you go down to the great hall for some breakfast before you're late to your lessons.'

'Thank you.' Leanne replied, and headed towards breakfast. As she walked, she thought about what had happened the previous night. She wondered how many people knew she had attacked Snape and made a run for it. Well, considering it was Hogwarts, the whole school would know by now, and she would bet all of her money in Gringotts that many of the rumours had been greatly exaggerated.

Her mind then slipped towards Professor Snape kissing her, even though she had told herself not to think about it. Thankfully, no-one had saw, so there would be no rumours about that, but what troubled her the most about last night, was if Snape had really meant to kiss her; judging by his reaction he hadn't meant to, but what if he did have feelings for her and kissed her without meaning to?

'Don't be stupid' Leanne told herself, 'he is a teacher, and you are his student; there is no way he would have feelings for you!'

Before she knew it, she was outside the great hall.

'Well here it goes.' She said to herself, and entered.

As predicted, the hall went deathly quiet as she walked in and everyone looked at her. She was sorely tempted to jump up in the air and yell 'TA DA!' whilst doing the jazz hands, but thought better of it.

She quickly walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to Ron, Harry and Hermione.

'Hey Leanne' said Ron as she sat down, 'is it true that you tried to kill Professor Snape yesterday then done a runner?' he asked, looking at her in awe.

'U-Um... No?' she said pretending to try and not look to guilty, whilst fighting to keep a straight face.

'You didn't!?' exclaimed Harry and Hermione together

'What happened?' asked Ron gleefully

'Well, I didn't exactly _try_ to kill him – it was more of a mutual disagreement in which he got hurt and I got caught trying to leave Hogwarts via the shrieking shack' Leanne said lightly.

'Whoa!' said Ron and Harry in unison whilst Hermione said 'Is he alright?'

'Well of course he alright if he's- he's... not there.' Leanne was scanning the head table for a sign of Snape, but he couldn't be seen.

'Half the school's been saying that you and Snape were lying in the hospital wing, dying, after you had had a massive duel, which you came out on top of, before you ran away!' said Harry still looking awe-struck at her, with a huge smile on his face.

At this Leanne couldn't help but burst out laughing. At lat she said

'We didn't have a major duel; I just managed to get the better of him.'

'Why were you duelling in the first place?' asked Hermione frowning

'I-uh, we- um... soooo, Tri-wizard tournament,' she said in an obvious attempt at changing the subject, 'sound fun doesn't it?'

Thankfully they agreed to change the subject, before hurrying off to class, which happened to be potions. When they arrived Snape was already there and in a foul mood.

'Settle down!' he snarled, and the class fell silent at once, but many of their eyes flickered between him and Leanne, wondering if anything was going to happen. Leanne just sat there, her heart racing as she remembered over and over the feel of his lips on hers. Throughout the entire lesson, she kept her eyes down, and through some miracle, managed to not ruin her potion. At the end of the lesson she considered hanging back and talking to Snape, but that plan was foiled when she was dragged out immediately by Harry, Ron and Hermione, who for some reason couldn't stop snickering, and once they were safely in the queue outside of DADA the all burst out laughing.

'What?' Leanne said confused.

'Y-you were bright red all lesson,' Ron said as he gasped for breath, still clutching his stomach, 'And Snape couldn't keep his eyes off you.'

Leanne looked at them incredulously.

'That's it?'

Ron shook his head but couldn't continue for laughing so Harry and Hermione took over.

'D-didn't you hear?' Said harry, also gasping for breath

'Hear what?' Leanne asked, now becoming annoyed

'S-someone asked w-when the rematch was going to be' Hermione gasped clutching a stitch in her side, 'and you should h-have s-seen the look on hi-his face!'

'Okay' Leanne said slowly

'That's not all of it' Ron said having finally regained his breath and stopped laughing so hard, 'Dean Thomas noticed how much he was staring at you and said-' but he couldn't continue as he burst out laughing again, so Harry once again took over for him.

'He said 'I know why they were fighting; they've had a lover's spat! I mean look he can't keep his eyes off her!', but then Snape heard and gave him detention for a month!'

They started laughing even harder when they saw the look on Leanne's face, but she was saved the trouble of saying anything else by the arrival of Professor Moody.

The three of them were still laughing as they entered the classroom and sat down. Slowly the rest of the class arrived and when they saw Leanne's still-red face they all started laughing and a few of the clapped her on the shoulder as if to say 'I feel sorry for you' and sat down.

That lesson they learned that they were to have the imperious curse put on them, and Moody's excuse was 'You need to be prepared'.

All the desks were cleared away to make a free space and Professor Moody placed each of them under the imperious cure one at a time. No-one had been able to throw off the curse until it was Harry's turn when, instead of jumping on to the desk, he simply crashed in to it. Moody decided to put harry through his paces until he could throw off the curse entirely. After they were finished, Harry looked extremely beaten up.

The last person to go was Leanne, who moved slowly towards the centre of the room, preparing to have the curse put on her. She was feeling rather apprehensive seeing as her father and his followers had been big on using this curse.

'Imperio' said moody

A dream like state took over Leanne and she heard Moody's voice in her head.

'Impersonate a duck' the voice said in her head, but she remained still, 'Impersonate a duck'

'No' Leanne said in her head

'NOW! Do it!'

'NO! Why don't you do it?'

Suddenly Leanne felt herself coming out of the trance-like state in time to see Professor Moody waddling around and quacking. She laughed along with the rest of the class as Moody began acting like himself once again. For a moment, she thought he would be angry, but he only looked at her curiously.

'Impressive,' he said quietly, and the class listened intently, 'not only did you throw off the curse entirely, you made it rebound upon the caster – I did not think this could be done, especially by a fourth year.'

'I can do a lot of things a fourth year can't Professor.' Leanne replied quietly as the bell rung, signalling the end of class.

'A word if you please, Miss Burress.' Called Professor Moody as Leanne headed towards the exit. She doubled back and waited for the rest of the class leave.

'Yes professor?'

'I just wanted to know what you meant when you said what you just did'

'Oh, I just mean I can perform way more advanced magic than a fourth year' she lied quickly; she wasn't sure why, but she couldn't trust him, something about him just seemed – off.

'And you can block your mind' he said slyly

'Why were you trying to read it?' Leanne asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes.

Moody laughed, 'You're a sharp one!'

Leanne gave a smile but didn't mean it.

'Well, Professor, I have to go, have a good day sir.'

'You too Miss Burress.'

Leanne nodded to him and hurried to catch up with her friends. She didn't like the way he looked at her, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. That night she abandoned dinner to go to the library to see if there were any books on how to block your mind, because if there was, there should be books on how to read minds. But it was to no avail. She resigned herself to the fact they were in the restricted section, and was heading back to her dormitory when she passed the corridor with Professor McGonagall's office, and an idea struck her.

'Professor?' Leanne said as she knocked on her door gently.

'Miss Burress? Please, come in.' She said looking up.

'Thank you.'

'Well, what can I do for you?' she said briskly. Leanne didn't mind this; she also liked getting straight to the point.

'Well, I was talking to Professor Moody today in DADA and he noticed that I could block my mind; he seemed surprised at this. I was wandering what it is called when you block and read other people's minds.'

McGonagall looked a little surprised at this, but recovered quickly enough.

The art of Occlumency is the art of blocking your mind so no-one can tell when you are lying. The art of Legilimency is the art of being able to penetrate somebody's mind so you can tell when you are being lied to, and if you wish, bring up another's memories. It is highly unusual that a person of your age is able to perform either.'

'A lot of people seem to be saying that about me lately.' Leanne said gloomily. 'Professor, I wonder if you know anyone who would be willing to teach me Occlumency and Legilimency.' When McGonagall raised her eyebrows she quickly added, 'It's just that I've been lied a lot to lately, and also because of something Professor Dumbledore told me.' She finished quietly.

'Ah, yes. The headmaster told me about your father and the mark. With me being the head of your house, he thought it would be best if I knew.'

Leanne nodded.

'And as for someone to teach you, I suggest you talk to Professor Snape; it is a field in which he specialises.'

Leanne nearly jumped at the mention of Snape's name, but it went unnoticed.

'Thank you Professor'

Leanne turned around and left rather quickly; her heart had begun to race as she thought about him. She looked at her watch and saw she still had an hour and a half before curfew; she could go and see him now. Her heart began beating even faster as she thought about this and she felt the same twinge is her stomach as she had when Snape had kissed her. Her mind slipped back to the kiss; it had been on heck of a kiss – so intense and-

'God what the heck am I thinking' Leanne thought as she mentally shook herself and decided it still wasn't safe to go and see him; she may spontaneously break down and become a pile of jelly right before his eyes, presuming he didn't curse her in to one first. She turned round again and headed back to her common room.

Once there she found a crowd of people round the notice board.

'What's going on?' she asked Hermione, temporarily forgetting about Snape.

'The other schools in the Tri-wizard tournament are coming this Friday!' she said excitedly.

'Great!' Leanne replied her voice unusually high and strained, then headed off to her dormitory before anyone could stop her. She was beginning to feel ill, so she dumped her bag on the floor, flopped down on her bed and began crying in to her pillow. She didn't even know why she was crying; all she knew was that she had an immense sadness building up inside her all day until it just burst out. She didn't know how long she cried for, but when her thoughts turned to Snape, she began sobbing even harder. Why had he kissed her? Why was he staring at her? And did he even mean it when he kissed her? These thoughts went round and round her head until finally she drifted off in to an uneasy sleep.


	8. The cruciatus curse

Chapter eight – The Cruciatus curse

That night, Leanne had a dream; at least she thought it was a dream. She dreamt that she woke up in the middle of the night with a pounding head and a sudden desire to go and see Snape.

She got up and put on her dressing gown, and headed down into the common room as silently as she could. No-one was awake so she crept towards the portrait hole and very carefully, as to not wake the fat lady, she slipped outside and made her way cautiously down to the dungeons, being careful to avoid peeves and Mrs Norris along the way.

Finally she reached the dungeons and stopped outside Snape's office door, trying to convince herself to knock and enter. Several times she raised her fist, and several times she lowered it again. At long last she simply rested her head against the door and listened to the silence, resigning herself to the fact that he would be asleep by now, and wouldn't care to be woken.

She was about to head back to her dormitory when she heard a noise from within, and then voices. One of them was definitely Snape's, but the other one was – a woman's? Leanne felt as if her stomach had dropped out of her as she heard them laughing. The woman's' laugh seemed familiar somehow, but she put that down to her mind playing tricks on her.

Slowly Leanne backed away from the door, staring at it with tears flooding her eyes. Without meaning to Leanne let out a very audible sob and the voices in the room ceased. Gasping, Leanne turned round and fled the dungeons as she heard Snape's door open, but she didn't look back to see whether or not he had spotted her, and kept running until she reached Gryffindor tower, where she almost shouted the password, ignoring the fat lady's protests at being woke up, and stumbled inside, collapsing onto a squishy chair by the empty fire grate.

She stayed there for what felt like hours as she sobbed her heart out into the back of the chair she had curled up in. Why had Snape done this to her? Why had he kissed her and went to another woman straight afterwards? Or was he with her before he had kissed Leanne, and that was why he pulled away?

'Leanne you have_ got_ to stop thinking that there is anything between you and Snape!' She thought to herself, and then suddenly snorted; her adoptive father and Snape would have got on brilliantly, Leanne thought bitterly, he had been trying to break Leanne all her life and Snape had managed to do it in a matter of days!

Leanne's heart sank even further; was she weak like her mother? Was she about to let herself be hurt because she was in love? Wait – WHAT!? Who said anything about love? How could she be in love after one kiss? How could she even have feelings for that man?

'Oh god I'm crazy' Leanne moaned putting her head in her hands.

She sat there for another few minutes before slowly getting up and heading off to bed.

The next morning Leanne woke feeling extremely groggy. She thought that she had had a dream but it seemed too real to be a dream.

'Hey, Hermione?'

'What?'

'Did I leave the dormitory last night?'

Hermione looked at her curiously. 'I don't know. Why?'

Leanne shook her head. 'I don't know. I just thought I did, but I really can't remember.'

Hermione frowned.

'It doesn't matter.' Said Leanne as she got up to take a shower before breakfast.

She and Hermione joined Harry and Ron on their way down to the Great Hall, and unfortunately for Leanne, the topic of discussion was still her and Snape.

'Hey Leanne,' said Ron eagerly as they came to the entrance hall, 'Do you think you would give Snape a rematch if you got the chance?'

'What?' she said, 'oh, you're not still on about that are you?'

'Yes!'

'Why?' she pouted, then sighed as they were about to enter the great hall, 'There wouldn't be any point in having a 'rematch' because we've sorted it out.'

'Ooooh listen everybody,' jeered a Slytherin seventh year suddenly, successfully gaining the attention of the great hall, including the teachers attention, 'Burress and Snape have got back together!'

The hall erupted with laughter.

'What?' Leanne shouted over the noise at the Slytherin.

'Oh purr-lease! Stop with the acting already.' The Girl said as the Hall quietened down to listen, 'We all know that you attacked him because tried to end it with you!'

At this even Leanne laughed. 'What?' she said incredulously, 'You think that Professor Snape and I were dating? Are you brain-dead or something?'

'How dare you, you filthy little whore!' The Slytherin shouted, becoming suddenly furious as she dropped her bag, drew her wand and fired a curse at her. Leanne also drew her wand just in time to deflect the curse as all the students backed away to give them space.

'What the hell!?' Leanne exclaimed as another curse was sent in her direction. The third time she wasn't so lucky, and fell to the floor as she writhed and screamed in pain; the idiot had used the cruciatus curse on her! The pain was excruciating. She felt as if her very bones were on fire and that she was being stabbed by thousands of small, sharp knives in every place of her body.

She wanted it to end, to die; she could feel her throat tearing and her muscles screaming in protest, but at long last after what must have been a whole minute of mind-numbing pain it stopped and she lay on the floor panting. Her brain was too fuzzy to comprehend what was going on around her, but she felt a strong pair of hands grasp her and pull her up. She opened her eyes to see the girl who attacked her being restrained by Professor Moody, looking livid.

Leanne was shaking badly and almost fell again when the pair of hands steadied her. She heard Professor Dumbledore's voice saying something; he sounded furious, then she also heard McGonagall's voice which sounded concerned. She said something about the hospital wing, and then Leanne felt the hands which had hold of her begin to steer her away from the scene, and catch her whenever she fell.

She looked up to see who it was, and to her horror, she saw Snape looking down at her, concern etched into his face. She looked away again as they neared the hospital wing, horribly aware of Snape's arms around her waist and on her shoulder.

Madam Pomfrey looked up as they entered, and her mouth opened slightly in shock as she saw Snape's arms around Leanne, who looked pale and sickly.

'What in the name of Merlin has happened now!?' She exclaimed as she ran forward to help Snape escort Leanne to a bed, and lie down.

'She has been attacked Poppy.' Snape said.

'Again!?'

Leanne would have loved to hear Snape's retort but a flash of pain shot through her head and she grabbed Snape's hand which was on her waist as she gasped. Suddenly everything went black and she knew no more.

When she awoke, she put her hand to her head and groaned. She opened her eyes and looked around; she was in the hospital wing and judging by the rosy light streaming in through the window it was either sunrise or sunset. The ward was empty apart from her and there was no sign of madam Pomfrey.

She lay there and wandered why exactly it was she was in the hospital wing. Slowly it all came back to her; the accusations, the duel and Snape bringing her here. She heard the door to madam Pomfrey's office open and she tried to sit up, but that proved difficult as her body was protesting against her moving.

Just then she heard Madam Pomfrey gasp and the hurried footsteps that told Leanne that she was running.

'Oh thank Merlin you're awake child!' She gasped as Leanne looked up at her through bleary eyes.

'What?'

'You've been out for so long; we didn't think you would make it'

'Huh?'

'We tried everything we could, even take you to Saint Mungo's but there was nothing anyone could do!'

'Eh?'

'I'll go and inform the headmaster right away'

'Wait!' Leanne called as the matron hurried off.

She sank back down in to her pillows, marveling at how stiff she was. She lost track of time, but before long, she heard more hurried footsteps as Madam Pomfrey and Professor Dumbledore entered the ward. She managed to sit up as they approached her.

'How are you feeling, Miss Burress?' Dumbledore asked gently, standing at the side of her bead looking down at her. He looked extremely worried and the usual twinkle in his eyes was gone.

'O-okay I guess' she stammered feeling very confused, 'Professor, what happened?'

'You don't remember?' he said sharply, with a worried glance towards Madam Pomfrey.

'N-no I remember what happened, and I remember Professor Snape escorting me here, then fainting, it's just- how long have I been out?'

At this the two adults exchanged half-relieved, half-anxious glances. They turned back towards her and Madam Pomfrey said cautiously 'A month'

Leanne simply gaped at them.

'How could I have been out for a month?' she asked weakly.

Dumbledore sighed before saying 'During the duel it seemed as if you were only hit by one curse, but apparently you were hit by two. The second curse was a piece of extremely dark magic which made your brain deteriorate. We didn't recognise the symptoms early enough and we didn't think you would make it. Thankfully Professor Snape came up with an antidote about two weeks after you were attacked, but we weren't sure if it was still too late. The student who did this was sent to Azkaban.'

Leanne had remained silent throughout his explanation and she just stared at him. At last she finally found her voice.

'But I'm okay now though aren't I?'

'Yes, thanks to Professor Snape.'

Leanne nodded. 'I'll be sure to thank him personally' she said.

Dumbledore smiled. 'I suggest that you get some more rest, Miss Burress, and something to eat. If you are feeling up to it the champions for the Tri-wizard tournament are to be chosen tomorrow night, and it will be a ceremony worth seeing. Good day.'

'Good day sir' Leanne said as he got up and left.

'Now, would you like something to eat?'

'Yes please' Leanne said, just realising how hungry she was.

Over the next two days Leanne had a constant stream of visitors, to Madam Pomfrey's disapproval. The most memorable visitor was her sister who, as soon as she heard Leanne was awake, ran into the hospital wing with a scream of 'Leanne!' and threw her arms around her. Leanne joked soon afterwards that she seemed to be doing that a lot lately, which earned a playful punch on the arm.

Leanne was discharged quarter of an hour before the feast, so she decided to pay a visit to Snape to thank him. For the first time since the kiss she wasn't nervous to see him, but that may have been because she had forgotten about it. She headed down to the dungeons and knocked on Snape's office door.

'Enter' came his voice from within.

She opened the door and when he looked up from the papers he was marking he seemed startled to see her standing there.

'Miss Burress, I wasn't aware that you were awake' he said sounding genuinely surprised.

'Really? I woke up yesterday.' She said, raising her eyebrows, 'I actually came to thank you about that. Professor Dumbledore told me what you did.' She said quietly whilst walking a few steps forward.

'I assure you it was no trouble' Snape said, looking back down at the papers. Leanne noticed that he was rather uncomfortable and then it hit her – the kiss, and the rumours! She pressed her hand against her stomach as it gave a funny lurch. This didn't go unnoticed by Snape who stood up from behind his desk and walked over to her looking concerned.

'Are you sure you're alright?' he said whilst gazing intently into her eyes.

'Yes, I'm fine,' she lied, forcing herself to meet his gaze, 'probably just side-effects of being out for a month' she joked, trying to sound offhand.

Snape frowned slightly and studied her for a moment.

'I shall escort you to the feast; it wouldn't do well if you became ill again'

'There's no need Professor, I can man-'

'I insist' he said forcefully, then he smiled, 'come, it's not every day I offer help to anyone'

At this even Leanne smiled and nodded as Snape escorted her upstairs, his hand resting on the small of her back. In the entrance hall they parted and went to take their seats, each of them with a small smile on their face.


	9. The Champions are chosen

Chapter nine – The Champions are chosen

Leanne walked over to the Gryffindor table, attracting a lot of stares as she went; apparently a lot of people thought she had died. She went and sat down at the end of the table, next to Harry as the feast began. They all talked happily and seemed glad that Leanne was up and about again; none of them thought she was going to make it.

At last the feast was over and the moment of the Champions being named drew closer. Harry, Ron and Hermione had explained all about the tournament throughout dinner and she was now as excited as everyone else.

The lights were dimmed as the first name shot out of the Goblet of Fire.

'The Durmstrang champion is Viktor Krum!' Dumbledore announced.

The hall exploded with cheers as someone got up from the Slytherin and proceeded to the room behind the teacher's table. The next name shot out of the cup.

'The Beauxbatons champion is Fleur Delacour!'

The hall exploded again as a girl rose and joined Viktor Krum in the room. The hall went deadly silent as the name for Hogwarts came.

'The Hogwarts champion is...'

But he didn't say it. He simply stared at the slip of paper in front of him a whole minute. The whole hall remained silent as he said

'Leanne Burress'

Every head in the hall turned towards Leanne who was sitting there with her mouth hanging open and a horrified expression on her face.

'Leanne Burress' he repeated.

Leanne looked at her friends as if wanting them to tell her what to do. They gave her a quick nod as Dumbledore called her name for a third time, and she stood up and walked towards the room where the other champions were, whispers spreading throughout the hall like wild-fire. She glanced at the teacher expressions as she passed them; some of them looked curious, some of the worried, but thankfully none were accusatory.

She entered the chamber and saw Fleur and Krum talking next to a magnificent fireplace. They looked up as she entered and then frowned.

'What are you doing in 'ere little girl?' Fleur said sweetly, 'zis is ze place for Champions only'

'I- I know,' Leanne stammered, 'I'm Hogwarts Champion.' However she was slightly annoyed; Leanne was almost as tall as Fleur.

'But zis is not possible, you cannot be more zan sixteen!'

'I'm fourteen' Leanne corrected her, 'and I don't know why my name came out of the cup; I certainly didn't put it there; I have been in hospital the last month, until today, just before the feast.'

Fleur and Krum stared at her then suddenly the door opened again and none other than Harry entered the room.

'Yes?' Fleur said, now looking completely bemused, 'Do zey want us back in ze hall?'

'My name came out of the cup, I'm the fourth champion' he said, looking slightly dazed.

'How can zat be?'

Harry was about to answer when the doors opened again and a flood of teacher entered the room, including Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Moody, Crouch, Bagman, Karkroff, and madam Maxime.

'Madam Maxime' Fleur said running towards the giant of a woman who had entered, 'Zey are saying zat zis little boy and girl are to compete also!'

'What is ze meaning of zis?' She said drawing herself up to full height so her head brushed the ceiling.

'I think we would all like to know that' said Dumbledore, 'Harry, did you put your name in the cup?'

'No sir' he said truthfully.

'Are you absolutely sure?'

'Yes sir'

'But 'e must be lying' madam Maxime exclaimed, 'and what about zis girl?' she said pointing at Leanne

It was Snape who answered. 'It would have been impossible for Miss Burress to put her name in the Goblet of Fire, as she has been hospitalised for the past month, and was only discharged just before the feast.' Leanne glanced at him and gave him a look which said 'thank you' before turning back towards the scene in front of her.

'Zen why 'as 'er name been brought out?'

'As to that, we can only speculate' Dumbledore said.

'Very well' said karkroff, 'It is not the fault of the girl, but what of the boy? Hogwarts cannot have two champions! If you allow both of them to compete, I insist that we re-enter the names of our students, until we all have two champions.'

'That cannot be done Karkroff' Said Moody, 'The Goblet has gone out and won't re-light until the next tournament'

'In which we certainly will not be competeing!' said Karkroff angrily.

'Nor will we!' Said Madam Maxime, 'It is not fair that Hogwarts gets two bites of ze apple so to speak!'

'Come on now folks, do try to lighten up' Ludo Bagman interjected, 'They are, after all both under age, so I'd say the schools are still evenly matched'

Karkroff opened his mouth to say something but Leanne beat him to it'

'Do we have to compete' she asked quickly, 'because I'd rather not' she said with a small, nervous laugh, and Mr Crouch stepped forward.

'The Goblet of Fire states a binding magical contract; Mr Potter and Miss Burress have no choice but to participate.'

At this, Leanne's face fell and she looked at Harry, who looked petrified.

'Well, I suggest we call it a night then' Professor McGonagall said into the silence. They nodded and all left the chamber, and went their separate ways.

Harry and Leanne walked up to Gryffindor tower together. Harry looked at Leanne as they walked, seeing that she looked miserable.

'Why do you think our names came out of the cup?'

'Dunno, I mean someone obviously out them there for a reason,' Harry said slowly, 'and it is a sure way to die a painful death, and I can think of a few people who would live to kill me, but I don't know about you.'

Leanne smiled sadly and said, 'If they knew enough about me, nearly the whole wizarding world would want me dead.'

Harry frowned at her, but Leanne shook her head and said nothing else. They reached the portrait of the fat lady who had her friend violet with her.

Harry paused just short of it and said 'Do you believe me? When I say I didn't put my name in the cup.'

Leanne turned towards him and nodded 'It's not something you would do, and like you said ages ago; you don't go looking for trouble, it normally finds you'

Harry smiled at her and turned to give the fat lady the password. The portrait opened to a sea of noise as several pairs of hand reached out and dragged them inside. A party was in full swing and everyone crowded around them to bombard them with questions.

'How did you do it?' was the most asked question and no matter how much they repeated that they didn't put their names in the cup, no-one wanted to hear it as butterbeers and various foods were pressed on them. By the looks of it Harry didn't want to be there so she decided to help him be on his own.

'Harry' she said quietly to him so no-one else could hear, 'if you want to be alone I'll create a diversion if you want.'

He nodded and muttered his thanks as she waded across to the other side of the room to where the Weasley twins were and suggested singing a song. This was met by tumultuous applause so she conjured up a microphone and began to sing a wizarding song about victory and glory whilst Harry escaped up to his room.

The party lasted well into the night and Leanne was requested to sing over and over again until her throat was screaming in protest; she had a beautifully sweet but strong voice which they all adored.

Finally at 1am Professor McGonagall came to tell them to go to bed but caught Leanne as everyone was leaving and told her to go to the headmaster's office. Leanne was startled by this but did as she was told and followed Professor McGonagall.

Leanne entered Dumbledore's office to see him sitting behind his desk looking extremely grave.

'Ah you're here,' he said looking up as they entered, 'please sit down Leanne, thank you Minerva.'

Leanne sat down in front of his desk as McGonagall left them. Leanne looked at the headmaster wandering what this was about.

'Leanne, do you have any idea of how your name ended up in the Goblet of fire?' he asked, getting straight to the point.

'No sir' she said truthfully, slightly started at this question even though she had expected it.

'Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt you?' he said quietly leaning forward.

'What?' Leanne said, confusedly.

'Think carefully Leanne' he said, his voice barely above a whisper

'Wha- I- I... no. I don't think so. Why?'

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and sighed.

'There is a reason there was an age restriction for the tournament; it is very dangerous, and... You could die' He said looking at her with his eyes filled with sorrow and worry.

'I- I- uh- wh- I...' Leanne stammered trying to find something to say.

'Leanne,' he said leaning forward again, looking closely at her, 'are you sure no-one wants to hurt you? No-one with a grudge? Does anyone know your secret?'

'No. The only people who know are you, Cree, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape. And the only person who would want to hurt me is my adoptive father, but he's a muggle, what could he do?'

'I see.' He said leaning back once more and surveying her over his half-moon spectacles.

'Do you think that... someone is trying to... kill me?' Leanne said looking up at him, frowning.

'There is always a chance that this is some sort of practical joke, but under the circumstances, I would have to say; yes, I am afraid so.'

Leanne put her head in her hands as she tried to let all of this sink in. Fighting back tears she looked back up at Dumbledore who was looking at her sadly.

'What about Harry? Is someone after him too?'

Dumbledore bowed his head gravely and said 'There is no other explanation.'

Leanne stood up quickly, angry all of a sudden, and Dumbledore stared at her.

'This can't be a coincidence!' she said angrily to him as she paced back and forth, 'I mean first of all there are Death Eaters are running around at the World Cup, then the Dark Mark is plastered in to the sky, Voldemort is getting stronger, and now someone is trying to get Harry and I killed; I'm telling you something's going on around here!'

Leanne looked at Dumbledore as if looking for confirmation from him, but he didn't give any; he was standing by the window looking at the star strewn sky, clearly deep in thought; she hadn't even noticed him get up.

She stood there silently waiting for him to say something.

'Sir?' she said finally, not wanting to wait any longer.

'I'm sorry Leanne,' he said turning back around to look at her, 'I was deep in thought.'

'Sir, do you think that Voldemort is behind all of this?' she asked cautiously, wandering if he would answer. He looked at her for a moment.

'I cannot say. But I suggest you put it to the back of your mind for now, you have enough to be getting on with, without trying to find out what Lord Voldemort is up to.'

Leanne opened her mouth to argue, but close it again; he was right after all, she had to concentrate on getting through the tournament.

'Yes sir.'

'I would also advise that you do not tell anyone about what we discussed, not even Harry; it wouldn't be wise to worry him anymore. Stand by him though; I have the feeling he will need your support.'

'Yes, sir.' She said again, and feeling the conversation was at an end she said, 'Goodnight sir'

'Good night Leanne,' he said as she walked out of the door, 'And good luck.' He added once she had gone.


	10. A conversation or two

Chapter ten – A Conversation or two

The next day was hard. From the moment she stepped out of her dormitory, Leanne was treated like a hero. People crowded round her and constantly asked her questions, making sure that she was never alone, no matter how much she insisted that she wanted to be.

But while Leanne was respected and loved, Harry was shunted and insulted. Nearly everyone thought that he was a liar and a cheat; just an attention seeking little boy out for glory. Even Harry's best friend Ron thought he had put his own name in the cup, and it seemed as if it was only Leanne and Hermione who knew better, but Leanne didn't get a chance to speak to him; the people surrounding her dragged her away from him, saying the he didn't deserve to speak to her.

It was ridiculous. The first chance the Leanne got to speak to Harry was a whole two days after their names had came out of the cup. He was sitting by the lake alone during dinner, not wanting to face everyone when Leanne approached him.

'Harry?' she said cautiously.

'What?' he said angrily as he looked up and saw her.

'Can I talk to you?' she said, trying to ignore the tone in his voice.

'Why?' he said moodily not looking at her, 'rest of the school die or something?'

'No,' she replied, almost laughing, 'I want to talk to you it's just I haven't had the chance; the whole school seems to have appointed themselves most annoying no. 1 fan.'

Harry looked up at her with his eyebrows raised.

'I didn't ask for this, you know I didn't,' she said looking at him seriously, 'and neither did you. I've already told you that I believe you didn't put your name in the cup, and that hasn't changed! We should be in this together, right?'

Harry stared at her for a moment before smiling.

'Yeah, you're right. Sorry.'

'It's okay,' Leanne said sitting down, 'so, how're you doing?'

'Oh great!' he said sarcastically, 'The whole school's being so supportive, and of course the Slytherins are being nicer than ever!'

Leanne laughed at this.

'Sorry, that was a stupid question. But come on, there's got to be some people who believe you!'

Harry shook his head. 'Just you and Hermione.'

'Oh.' She said looking down at her knees, 'Doesn't Ron?'

'No'

'Sorry,' she said quickly.

'It's not your fault,' he said quietly whilst looking at her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes looking out over the lake.

'Are you scared,' Leanne asked quietly, 'for the first task?'

Harry looked at her in surprise for a second before turning back to the lake and saying, 'I'm not sure, I haven't really thought about it. Are you?'

Leanne thought for a moment.

'I'm not sure either.'

Leanne suddenly laughed, and Harry looked at her in surprise.

'Some year I'm having, eh?' she said chuckling, 'First of all I get in a fight with Professor Snape where I almost killed him and got caught trying run away from Hogwarts, next I almost die from being cursed by dark magic from someone who thought I was dating Professor Snape, and then I wake up after a month in hospital, only for my name to come out of the Goblet of Fire!'

Harry looked at Leanne thoughtfully as she flopped back on the grass, still laughing slightly.

'Yeah, I haven't had such a good one either,' he said as Leanne stopped laughing and looked at him, 'Firstly I had a dream about Voldemort over the summer and I woke up with my scar hurting, next I run into Death Eaters at the World Cup and get surrounded by ministry officials because they thought I conjured up the Dark Mark, and now this.'

'You never told me any of this.' She said sitting up and looking slightly hurt.

'I didn't? Oh that's right, you weren't at the World Cup, were you?'

Leanne shook her head.

'When you had the dream about Voldemort, what did you see?' Leanne asked cautiously, not wanting to anger him.

'It's not important' he said shaking his head.

'I think it is,' Leanne replied quietly, looking at him steadily.

Harry was silent for a moment, and then turned to look at her with a small smile on his face.

'Alright, but you have to promise to do something for me.'

'Erm, what would that be?' Leanne asked slowly

'Oh, nothing major, I'll have to think of something though.' He said as an afterthought.

'Okay then.'

'Good,' he said happily, 'the dream I had about Voldemort was kind of strange. He – wasn't exactly human. And he wasn't alone. Wormtail was with him.'

'What!?' Leanne yelped.

'You heard me.' He said gravely. 'Anyway, they were discussing something, something that would help bring Voldemort back to power.' He said slowly as Leanne listened intently, hardly daring to breathe. 'but they needed to get their hands on someone.'

'Who?' Leanne breathes, not wanting to hear the answer.

Harry looked at her sadly, 'Me.'

'What?' she breathed

Harry nodded. 'They need to kill me.'

'Harry, I- I'm so sorry!' she stammered, looking at him. 'I- y- you shouldn't worry about it though.' She said trying to sound confident, 'you're at Hogwarts now, he can't get you here, we'll all protect you, I promise!'

'You think that really happened?' he said looking at her.

'What? You don't?'

'Well, it was just a dream after all.'

'Maybe... Maybe you're right. Maybe it was just a dream,' she said slowly, as she cast round for a change of subject; she wasn't supposed to tell Harry about what she and Dumbledore discussed, 'So what was it you wanted me to do?' she said quickly in a falsely bright voice.

Harry stared at her for a moment, confused at the abrupt change of subject, but went along with it.

'I just wanted to know,' he began slowly, as Leanne frowned at his cautiousness, 'why you and Snape were fighting.'

Leanne sighed at him.

'Harry, I can't tell you that, I'm sorry.'

'Why not- wait, you weren't actually dating were you?' he asked looking slightly revolted.

'No!' she squealed, blushing furiously, refusing to meet his gaze.

'Then why?' he said, slightly annoyed.

'Harry' she began, looking up at him seriously, tears forming in her eyes, 'If I told you, you wouldn't forgive me, no-one would. I'd just be a monster to you.'

'What is it?' He asked gently, leaning towards her and putting his hand on top of hers, 'Leanne, you can tell me, I promise I won't think any differently of you.'

Leanne looked down at his hand, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

'You'll hate me' she whispered, still looking at his hand.

'No, I won't' he said, kneeling in front of her, 'Leanne look at me' he said, hooking a finger under her chin as she reluctantly raised her eyes to meet is gaze, 'I won't hate you'

He moved his hand to cup her face and wiped a stray tear away with his thumb, as Leanne tried to pull away.

'I- I c-can't' she gasped, refusing to look at him.

'Yes, you can,' he whispered, moving his hands to her shoulders to hold her steady.

There was a few moments silence, broken only by Leanne's sobs before she whispered, 'I-I'm Voldemort's d-daughter.'

Harry sat there in silence staring at her with his mouth hanging open, his grip on Leanne slackened, and she took advantage of this by springing up and muttering 'I told you' before running back to the castle, but before she had gone more than three steps she felt Harry's hands on her shoulders.

'Leanne wait!' he said. He didn't sound angry but Leanne still flinched at the sound of his voice.

'Let go of me!' she sobbed as Harry fought to keep her still.

'Stand still then' he panted as Leanne struggled against him, forcing him to wrap his arms around her shoulders in a kind of embrace.

Eventually she stopped struggling, but Harry didn't let go of her. Slowly he turned her around to face him, his hands still on her shoulders.

'Leanne, look at me,' he said pulling her face up to his once more, 'I don't hate you, I know you too well to think that you're happy about this'

Leanne stayed silent looking at him intently.

'I promise I won't tell anyone about this, not even Hermione,' he almost whispered. Leanne gave him a weak watery smile.

'Thank you,' she whispered, wiping her face.

Harry pulled her into a hug, holding her tightly. At last they broke apart and looked at each other; they were standing very close, close enough to feel each other's breath on their faces and slowly, very slowly, Harry closed the gap between them and just as their lips were about to touch a loud shout of laughter came from the entrance hall causing them to whip round and step away from each other.

The laughter had come from some students who had just finished dinner, but thankfully hadn't seen them. They looked back at each other and grinned sheepishly, both of them blushing furiously.

'Do you erm... want to get something to eat?' Leanne asked nervously.

'Yeah alright' Harry said, blushing even more and smiling nervously at her.

They turned and walked towards the Great Hall together, each of them lost in thought. Little did either of them know but someone had seen them from inside the Great Hall, and that someone was feeling extremely angry at that very moment, angry enough to kill, and in case you hadn't already guessed, that someone was none other than Severus Snape.

As Harry and Leanne walked a group of Slytherins, including Draco Malfoy and Cree approached them.

'Oi! Burress!' Malfoy yelled from half way across the Great Hall, causing many a head to turn in their direction, 'What are you doing with Potter? Come sit with us'

'Let you off Malfoy' she called back to him, and turned back to walk away with Harry.

'What?' he said incredulously as they neared her, 'you'd rather sit with that?'

'Yes,' she said, 'I would rather sit with 'that'.'

'Why?' he said as if trying to point out the obvious

Leanne rolled her eyes, trying desperately not to just reach for her wand and curse Malfoy into oblivion.

'Well,' she said as if talking to a two-year-old, 'One; I want to, two; you're a git, and three; I don't remember transferring to Slytherin so I don't know why I should feel obligated to sit with you.' She finished angrily, and she turned away.

'You know what?' Cree called after her sister as she turned back again, 'here's three things for you; one; you belong in Slytherin, two; you know you do, and three; in case you've forgotten, maybe you should look at your arm!'

'Cree!' Leanne shouted warningly at her sister, taking a threatening step forward.

'What?' she said lightly as if nothing was wrong, 'you're not ashamed are you?'

'Cree be quiet!' she hissed, walking up to her sister, 'and yes, for your information, I am ashamed! And so should you be!'

'Why? Our father was the greatest sorcerer that ever lived!' Cree growled

Leanne opened her mouth to answer, but with the people standing round them she couldn't speak freely.

'He was an abomination!' she spat and turned and walked away with Harry, ignoring her sister's calls.

The two of them sat down at the Gryffindor table, and Harry looked at Leanne, who was staring down at her plate moodily.

'She'd better not tell anyone.' She said quietly to Harry, 'It was bad enough when Snape found out.'

Harry nodded. This is one heck of a crappy year, the both thought as they ate.


	11. And Again

Chapter eleven - And Again

The next morning Leanne woke up as usual, only to find the dormitory empty. This startled her as she was usually one of the first people up. She made to get out of bed, but she couldn't! She tried moving every part of her body. But she couldn't. The only things she could move were her eyes, so she looked around desperately and to her horror, saw her wand lying on her bedside table, snapped in two!

'Oh crap!' she thought, 'what the hell am I supposed to do now?'

She tried to use her voice, but in vain. She tried to calm herself down and think logically.

'Right, what would someone like Dumbledore do in this situation?' she asked herself, 'Well, seeing as he's a genius, he wouldn't be in this situation, would he?' she answered herself, 'Or he'd be able to perform wandless magic or something, but I'm forgetting; I CAN'T DO THAT!'

'Well, there can't be any harm in trying' said a third little voice in her head.

So, she breathed in and out deeply, concentrating on summoning up all of her magic. She imagined a dark void with a little spark of light which grew brighter and brighter until she could feel her head buzzing and her fingers becoming unusually warm und tingly. Then she concentrated with all her might on the counter-curse she needed and – Thank the Lord! It had worked!

She tumbled out of bead and fell on to the floor, her head was spinning and she felt exhausted. She kneeled on the floor for a few minutes before regaining her composure and getting dressed.

'Who did this?' she thought, 'and why?'

Yesterday she had been the most loved person in Hogwarts; even the Slytherins loved her, but now...

Once washed and dressed, she looked at her watch and nearly jumped out of her skin; it was half-way through morning lessons. She rushed down in to the common room and headed towards the portrait hole, but found her path blocked by a couple of seventh years.

'Excuse me,' she said, but they didn't move, apart from to draw their wands and point them at her.

'You're not going anywhere!' said the boy in a low, supposed-to-be-intimidating voice, as he took a step towards her.

'What's going on?' she asked, eyeing their wands.

'Like you don't know' the girl said also advancing on her, but Leanne maintained her ground.

'No, I don't know!' she said loudly

They both gave short derisive laughs.

'Don't lie, the whole school knows so how could you not?'

'Care to enlighten me?' Leanne snapped.

'You don't know' the boy said frowning

'Of course she knows, idiot! It's just one of her mind tricks!'

'Yeah... Yeah, you're right! We're not buying it!'

'What the hell have I missed?' Leanne said utterly perplexed

'QUIET!' the girl yelled as she flourished her wand as a streak of orange light came from it, knocking Leanne back onto the floor.

'What the hell!?' she screamed, putting a hand to her face where she had a long gash along her right cheek bone; this was happening too often for her liking.

'I SAID QUIET!'

Another flash of light slammed her back into the floor. Leanne looked up to see them both standing over her, wands directed at her heart.

'One more word,' said the boy in a deadly whisper, 'and we kill you'

Leanne stared. What had she done to deserve this? If only she had her wand, she could at least try to defend herself. This was getting out of hand; she had been attacked three times this year. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind, and began summoning up her strength to perform more wandless magic.

'What's she doing?' she heard the boy whispering to the girl.

'I don't know' the girl said back to him, 'Hey, what are you doing?'

Leanne didn't answer.

'I said 'what are you doing?'' came the girls voice again, and Leanne could almost see in her mind, the girl brandishing her wand.

Leanne opened her eyes in time to see another spell coming towards her as the boy yelled 'crucio'.

Leanne fell back writhing in pain as for the second time in her life she was put through mind numbing torture. Thankfully it stopped quicker this time. She heard the voices saying something but she didn't listen as she felt herself summon up all her magic and strike them down.

She opened her eyes to see them on the floor, their wands at the other side of the room, so she took her chance, scrambled up and ran out of the portrait hole. Once outside she quickly made up her mind and began running towards Dumbledore's office, her face stinging painfully as blood poured down her cheek and down her throat.

However, once she was only two corridors away from her destination she ran into more trouble; three seventh year students.

For a moment the three of them stared at each other before they started to run towards her whilst firing curses at her, and she turned round with the only option of leaving Hogwarts; McGonagall's classroom was blocked by the people chasing her and the rest of the classrooms were too far away.

She bounded down the marble staircase just as Snape headed up from the dungeons and caught hold of her from behind as she made for the door.

'Miss Burress, what do you think you are doing?' He asked as if nothing was wrong.

'Get off me!' she sobbed, trying to break free of his grasp.

'Miss Burress I advise you stop struggling before I have to hurt you!' he said in that annoyingly calm, cold voice.

'What is it with everybody wanting to hurt me today?' she yelled at him, blood and tears pouring down her face as she struggled against him.

'What has happened?' he asked betraying a hint of worry in his voice.

'Just let go of me!' she screamed as she managed to break free of his grasp and made for the door once more. Snape sighed as he pulled out is wand to stun her.

She fell to the floor and Snape approached her and turned her over gently. His eyes widened at how pale and beaten up she was; there was a puddle of blood on the floor even though she had only been there a few seconds. Sighing, he scooped her up into his arms and took her away.

Snape swept down to the dungeons with the unconscious girl in his arms and entered his office with her. He placed her on a table and looked at her sleeping form for a moment as some extremely unorthodox thoughts came to mind, many of which involved most of her clothing mysteriously vanishing.

He mentally shook himself and set about trying to heal the girl. He would have taken her to the hospital wing but she would have undoubtedly bled to death before they got there. The cut on her face was proving impossible to heal with magic and he couldn't stop the blood flow.

Swearing slightly, he conjured up a cauldron and began making a blood-replenishing potion. Once that was brewing he went to his private stores and took out a vile of poisonous green liquid which he then approached Leanne with.

Slowly and carefully he dabbed some of the potion on to the cut with the tips of his fingers. It began to sizzle and Snape was extremely glad Leanne was unconscious, because if she wasn't she would be screaming so loud right now, that even the dead would wake.

Slowly the flow of blood ceased and the wound began to heal, so he went back to the potion which was now ready, and ladled some in to a goblet. He approached Leanne again and a flash of light later she began to stir.

She opened her eyes and looked round. Upon seeing Snape with his wand out she tried sitting up but immediately felt dizzy. Snape put an arm around her and pulled her up, as he put the goblet to her lips.

'Drink this,' he said, 'it'll help.'

Snape watched her as she drank the potion with his help. Once she had finished he took the goblet away from her and watched hungrily as she slowly licked her lips of the residue.

'How are you feeling?' he asked her gently, as he looked down at her, his arm still around her shoulders.

'Okay, I think,' she said shakily, looking up at him, 'thank you'

'Would you care to tell me what happened?' he said moving away from her, rather reluctantly.

'I- I don't really know,' she said, still shaking slightly, 'I woke up this morning and I was in the body bind curse and my wand was beside me broken in two-'

'What? Who did this? He asked sternly

'I don't know.'

'How did you get free of the curse?'

'I- I erm, I did wandless magic,' she muttered

'How? You've never done it before have you?' he asked startled

Leanne shook her head and looked down at her knees. 'I just thought there wasn't any harm in trying and it paid off.'

'I see,' he said slowly, 'then what happened?'

'I went down into the common room and tried to leave the tower but I was stopped by two seventh years, they wouldn't let me out of the tower and I don't know why, but they kept insisting I did. One of them knocked me back, that's how I got the cut. I tried to do wandless magic again and I closed my eyes to concentrate; they didn't know what I was doing so they used the cruciatus curse-'

'What?' Snape growled, taking an angry step towards her, 'How dare they?'

Leanne just stared at Snape; it was uncharacteristic of him to show this much concern.

'Well,' she said sarcastically, 'at least I'll be used to it by the end of the year.'

'That's not funny' he growled, taking another step forward; they were now barely a foot apart.

'Sorry,' she said quietly, choosing to stare at the desk rather than look at him; her heart was beating rather fast again.

'Leanne,' he said gently, as she looked back up at him, 'I-'

He paused and looked down, apparently unable to say what he wanted.

'What?' she said curiously

He shook his head, 'It doesn't matter,' he sighed bitterly as he turned away.

'Come on, tell me' she said gently, reaching out and touching his arm.

He looked down at her hand and then slowly up at her. There was something in his eyes that she had seen once before; just before he had kissed her; they were filled with sadness and longing. Struck with a sudden idea, she let her eyes flick up to his hair as if she had seen something in it and smiled. He raised his eyebrows at her smile.

'Come here,' she said beckoning him forward.

He moved towards her and once he was close enough, Leanne roughly grabbed the front of his robes and pulled him towards her. He stumbled forwards and let his hands find her waist as she brought his lips crashing down upon hers. They kissed heatedly as Leanne wrapped her arms around Snape's neck and granted his tongue access to her mouth his nails digging into her waist, as he momentarily tightened his grip on her before he slid his arms fully around her waist pulling her forward so their bodies were touching, forcing her to spread her legs which she straddled on Snape's hips, as they pressed themselves fully against each other. Leanne let a moan escape from her as Snape's hands ran down past the small of her back and gripped her hard. She ran her hands through his hair, causing him to moan softly and slowly move kisses along her jaw and down to her neck. She gasped and moaned as he did this, and wrapped her legs even tighter around his waist, taking pleasure in feeling his stiffness press hard against her. Snape slowly started to slide his hands down Leann's thighs until they touched the bare skin of her leg, and then, just as slowly he began to slide his hands back, this time under her skirt as he moved his kisses back to her mouth, and she moaned heavily as he slid his hands under her undergarments and find her smooth sensitive skin. She brought her hands round to his chest and began to fumble with the unfastening on his cloak, but his hands caught hold of hers and they pulled away from each other and their eyes met; she was shocked and he was sad.

'Leanne-' he began, but she had put her fingers on his lips to stop him from talking, and shook her head, looking at him sadly, before pulling back down and saying 'we need this.'

But just as their lips touched a nock came at the door, they pulled away from each other and-

She woke up.


	12. Resolutions

Chapter twelve - Resolutions

Leanne opened her eyes and looked straight ahead of her; the dormitory was empty and she could feel herself sweating slightly, as if she had actually been there with Snape.

She lay there for a few moments while she thought about what had happened the previous day; she had told Harry her secret, they had nearly kissed, and to top it all off, Cree nearly told the whole school their secret.

She made a move to get up and found her frozen – wait what? She struggled as hard as she could to move but couldn't.

'Oh well,' she thought bitterly, 'at least one part of the dream was true.'

She suddenly remembered the part about the broken wand, and slowly she looked towards where she had put it the previous night and relief swept through her body; it was still in one piece. Now the only problem was getting out of the body bind curse; she highly doubted that she could perform wandless magic – that part was just too good to be true.

However, she decided to give it a go, just in case it did work, so she concentrated with all he might on the counter-curse she needed, but nothing happened. Well that was a waste of time; she thought, rolling over onto her back, and then sitting bolt upright.

'I can move,' she thought.

She looked round the dormitory to see if there was anyone else there, but there wasn't.

Had she just performed wandless magic? Or had the curse simply worn off at the right time?

Whatever it was, she had to get to class before she was too late, and if she already was she could explain. She hurried to put on her clothes, but just as she picked up her wand the door opened to reveal a rather angry-looking Professor McGonagall standing there, with a rather sorry-looking Lavender Brown behind her.

'Miss Burress, are you alright?' She said hurrying over to her.

'Wha- yeah, I think so. What's going on?'

'It would seem that the school knows about your father and Miss Brown here,' she said shooting a filthy look, 'thought it would be wise to try and restrain you in case you tried to hurt anyone.'

Leanne sighed and sat down on her bead, 'how does everyone know?'

'I'm afraid I cannot say, though I suggest you ask your sister.'

'Cree? Oh yeah, I forgot about yesterday. Is she okay then?'

'Yes, she is perfectly fine; in fact, she is being treated as rather a hero, by the Slytherins'

'Undoubtedly' Leanne said thoughtfully. 'What should I do?'

'I suggest you stay in your dormitory until this evening. The headmaster will talk to the school and I would like for you to be there. I will get the kitchens to send up some food for you, and I will inform the staff of your whereabouts and situation as well as putting some defensive charms around your dormitory so no-one can get in.'

'Right, thank you professor.'

McGonagall left, dragging Lavender along with her as she sealed Leanne in her room.

Leanne sighed to herself and leant back on her bed, thinking about the dream she had; it had felt so real. God, how she wanted to be with him like that, it was driving her crazy. She wanted to feel his arms around her and his hands sliding up her leg, she wanted to touch him, taste him and have him take her. She wanted just one night of wild passion so she could just get on with her life and be able to forget him, was that too much to ask? She knew that he wanted her too, but she also knew that he would never do anything to quench his thirst. Never; she knew that now, she could tell; the way he looked after he'd kissed her – he was so guilty.

A tear ran down her cheek as Leanne thought about this. She needed to forget how she felt about him, for his sake as well as hers. Slowly, she sat back up and picked up her wand, looking at it thoughtfully. She had never performed a memory charm – it was N.E.W.T. level magic, but she did know the theory.

She pondered for a moment about what would happen if she performed one on herself; as far as she knew it had never been done. As long as it was a weak one, and she brought all the memories forward that she wanted to forget, it may work. But what if it didn't, she could be left with no memory at all, or she could seriously addle her brains.

She thought about it for a few minutes, then made up her mind; she was going to do it; she had to.

She stood up in the middle of the room and took a deep calming breath, pointed her wand at her own head and said calmly 'obliviate'. There was a flash of light and she opened her eyes and looked at her wand, vaguely wandering why she was standing in the middle of her dormitory with it pointed at her face.

She turned round and put her wand on to her bedside cabinet, and saw a plate of food on her bed; McGonagall had obviously talked to the kitchens. She conjured up a table and chair and sat down to eat her breakfast; bacon, eggs, toast and tea.

She had only just finished her breakfast when an owl soared through the open window with a package tied to its leg. It landed next to her and she saw that it was addressed to her from flourish and blots.

She untied the package and fed the owl a few leftovers from her breakfast before it took off again. Leanne opened the package to reveal a heavy, glossy book entitled 'Ancient Magiks'.

She had this book ordered over the summer; it was the only copy in existence of an ancient book of magic that had been under lock and key for over two thousand years. The original had been translated by specialists and written anew specially for her. With the money she had spent on this she could have bought ten firebolts and a Quidditch team, but she knew she just had to have this book.

Even though she knew that most of the spells in this book couldn't be cast by even the best wizards and witches of the day, including Albus Dumbledore, she had spent nearly all of her money and she wasn't going to give up on trying mastering them.

The shop keeper and the ministry thought she was crazy when she stated her request, and of course, suspicious, but somehow, she had managed to flatter and charm them in to accepting her proposal, so here she was, holding a book containing the most powerful magic known to man-kind.

She opened the book and began to read; the first spell was one of life and growth. It could not bring people back to life but it could revert them back to their infant stages once again or it could age them rapidly; this could be achieved with some potions, but they were sometimes difficult to brew, plus, it would be more impressive with a spell and no potion could turn a baby into a ninety-year-old in the space of a few seconds.

She decided to try it on something so she used a summoning charm on a bird outside of her window and immobilised it. Apparently this should work on animals, and should be easier than performing it on humans. She studied the incantation which was to be said in a chant whilst she visualised what the end result would be.

Okay, she thought, here goes nothing. She took a deep breath, pointed her wand at the bird, and began to chant, imagining the bird at its new-born stage. Amazingly, a blue light shot out the end of her wand and surrounded the bird as she chanted. The spell finished and Leanne admired her handiwork in amazement; the bird was no longer covered in black feathers, it was a pink-flesh-coloured little new-born bird with no feathers whatsoever.

Leanne looked back down at the book then back up at the bird. That was so simple, she thought, how can no-one do that?

The baby bird squawked, and she looked at it, deciding it would be best if she repaired the damage. This time a white light shot out of her wand as she chanted the incantation and found a full grown bird in front of her. She lifted the immobilising curse off the bird and watched it fly away, wandering if there would be any side-effects.

Turning back to the book she sat down and began to read some more; there was a spell to heal wounds, even ones that were made by dark magic; a spell which could bring back memories; a spell which could cure even the worst of brain-damage; one that could re-grow body parts; one that could lift any enchantments known to man; and one that caught Leanne's attention, one that could send someone back or forward in time if their life was in mortal danger.

She looked at this one closely and learned it off by heart; this spell may come in handy one day, assuming she could cast it of course.

She lost track of time reading the book, and before she knew it Professor McGonagall had come to collect her to take her down to dinner. They walked down to the Great Hall in silence, each of them apprehensive about what was to come; the fact that Cree had been celebrated and Leanne shunned made this ever more unbearable.

McGonagall told Leanne to wait at the door to the hall once everyone saw she was there until Dumbledore had made his speech.

She took a deep breath as McGonagall hurried off to the staff entrance and entered the Great Hall and as it had done once before, all went silent as everyone turned to look at her. Many of the students opened their mouths to say something, but Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat, and their attention shifted to him.

He began to talk but Leanne wasn't listening; she had seen someone in the hall that she didn't know. He was sitting at the teachers table, and there was something vaguely familiar about his appearance; he had long black hair which fell to his shoulders, a thin pallid face, a hooked nose and beetle-black, empty eyes. She had a feeling that he had something to do with potions and that his name sounded something like snake or snail or something.

She looked away from him as he turned his eyes towards her, and focused her attention back on Dumbledore, who was just finishing his speech. The whole hall remained silent for a few moments as their eyes turned towards Leanne, who offered a small nervous smile as she looked up at Dumbledore who gave her a small nod. She was about to say something, but Lavender Brown had got up from the Gryffindor table, hurried over to her and gave her a tight hug whilst she apologized. The hall burst into applause and throughout all of dinner, Leanne had people coming up to her to apologize, but her sister remained where she was, looking sour at all the attention she was getting.

However, Leanne was happier than she had ever been in her life; they had forgiven her and for the first time ever she wasn't afraid to show people what was on her left arm, and no-one was repelled by it now that they knew it didn't mean she was about to try and kill them, in fact they all seemed to think it was pretty cool, but she knew that if they saw it on anyone else they would still be scared, which Leanne didn't blame them for it one bit.


	13. Memories, Spells and Dragons

Chapter 13 – Memories, Spells and Dragons

The next day Leanne woke up with a smile on her face even though she was exhausted; all the girls in her dormitory had stayed up talking all night; it was obvious that they felt bad for shutting her out the previous day. She walked down to breakfast with Harry and Hermione deep in conversation about the Tri-wizard tournament; the first task was in a just over a week's time.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat as Leanne looked up at the staff table; the black haired man was looking at her.

'Hey guys,' she said quietly, looking at the other two, 'who is that man with long black hair sitting at the staff table?'

They looked up and back at her, frowning.

'Snape?' Harry asked, thoroughly confused.

'Is that his name?' she asked lightly as the other two looked disbelievingly at her as if she was crazy, 'Is he a teacher?'

'Er...' Harry said exchanging worried glances with Hermione.

'What?' Leanne said

'You can't have forgotten him!' Hermione laughed, thinking that Leanne was just fooling around.

'Who is he?' she said, genuinely confused

'Come off it! He's Snape – potions teacher – you got in a fight with him a month ago!' Harry said now laughing his head off.

'I did? But I don't even know him!' she was seriously worried now.

'What?' they said as they saw she wasn't joking.

'You're kidding right?' Harry said.

'He's been teaching us since we first came to Hogwarts' Hermione said incredulously.

'He has?'

'Who the hell did you thinks been teaching us if not him?' Harry pointed out.

'I don't know,' Leanne said slowly, 'I remember the lessons, but not the teacher.'

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances.

'Are you sure you're feeling alright?' Hermione asked

'Yeah, I'm fine' she replied, now extremely confused.

The other two looked at each other again.

'Has someone used a memory charm on you by any chance?' Hermione asked looking at her with concern.

'Not as far as I can remember, but then again, if someone had I wouldn't remember would I?'

'I suppose not' Hermione said thoughtfully, 'I think you should go and see madam Pomfrey'

'Why? I'm not sick.'

'Leanne, someone has modified your memory! Who knows how much you've forgotten!'

'I don't think I should, besides I've only forgotten one person and it's a teacher; it's not like I got to know them personally or anything. Also the person who did it must have had a good reason for doing so.'

Hermione opened her mouth to argue but Harry cut across her.

'Look Hermione, how about this; if we notice she's forgotten anything else we take her to see madam Pomfrey but until then I think she's right when she said we should leave it; it may be something she's better off not remembering.'

'Fine,' She said, 'come on we've got potions first anyway. It's time for you to get to know your teacher again Leanne!'

They headed down to the dungeons and waited outside the dungeons for Snape to let them in; he had left the great hall before they had. The Gryffindors lined up on one side of the corridor and the Slytherins on the other side, all of which seemed to be supporting badges on their chests. On closer inspection they saw written on them 'LEANNE, the real Hogwarts CHAMPION!'

Leanne stared at the badges, and when Malfoy saw her looking at them he flashed a smile and said 'Like the badges?'

'Huh.' She said thoughtfully, wondering why they were wearing them

'That's not all they do' he smirked and pressed the badge into his chest and the message changed to 'Potter STINKS!'

'Oh ha ha!' she said sarcastically

'Really witty' Hermione added

'Want one Granger? I've got loads, only don't touch my hand; I've just washed them and I don't want a mudblood stinking them up.'

At this the Slytherin girls screeched with laughter as Harry and Leanne both took angry steps towards Malfoy; Harry and Malfoy drawing their wands simultaneously. Leanne wondered whether to help but two on one seemed a little unfair.

They looked at each other for a moment before firing spells at exactly the same time which deflected off each other and ricocheted off to the side; Malfoy's curse hit Hermione and Harry's hit Goyle in their faces.

'Hermione!' shouted Harry, Ron and Leanne.

Hermione had whimpered and put her hands to her mouth as Ron tried to see what damage had been done as the dungeon door opened.

'What is going on here?' the man called Snape said in a silky voice.

'Potter attacked me sir!' Malfoy said quickly.

'We attacked each other at the same time!' Harry shouted

'He hit Goyle, look!' he said indicating Goyle who had boils popping up all over his face.

'Hospital wing Goyle' Snape said lazily

'Malfoy got Hermione!' Ron said angrily as he managed to pull Hermione's hand away from her face; her front teeth which were already large to begin with had started growing at an alarming rate and were now past her chin. Snape observed her for a few seconds as the Slytherins roared with laughter and Hermione's eyes filled with tears.

'I see no difference' he said cooly as Hermione whimpered.

'How dare you!' Leanne shouted at Snape with a look of pure loathing on her face as Snape raised his eyebrows looking at her surprised.

'Come on Hermione!' she said and hurried her away as her teeth reached her collarbone.

Luckily Harry and Ron started shouting at Snape before he could stop them from leaving.

'Hermione wait a second, I can stop your teeth from growing any further until madam Pomfrey can fix them.'

They stopped still and Leanne pointed her wand at Hermione's mouth and chanted a spell that she had read in the book she had got; the spell would stop any progressive incantation or curse without fail, at least for a while.

'Right, there we go.' She said and hurried her to the hospital wing.

They entered the hospital wing to see madam Pomfrey fixing Goyle, but when she saw Leanne she straightened up and said exasperatedly 'You haven't been attacked again have you?'

Leanne laughed, 'No but Hermione's been cursed by Malfoy, I managed to stop her teeth from growing any further but I thought it would be best if I brought her here to get them fixed properly.'

'I see,' she said, 'am I right in saying you know how to fix this?'

Leanne nodded.

'Could you see to Miss Granger whilst I tend to Mr Goyle then please?'

'Of course,' she said, then turned to Hermione and lead her to a bed so she could sit down, 'tell me when your teeth are back to the way you want them.' She said as she conjured up a mirror and held it up so Hermione could see and she began shrinking her teeth.

Leanne smiled slightly as Hermione let her carry on shrinking her teeth past where thay normally stopped; she knew how much she hated their size.

'There,' Hermione said and Leanne stopped the process, 'thanks.'

'No problem!'

'Hey can I ask you something?'

'What?'

'How did you know that spell which you used to stop my teeth from growing? It sounded like ancient magic.' She said frowning slightly

'It was. It was one of the spells that no-one has been able to perform in two thousand years, well, until now that is!' she added as a little joke.

Hermione's jaw dropped. 'But that's impossible! How did you even get the book?'

'I spent nearly all the money I have for it to be translated and put in a book for me. Please don't tell anyone about the book though; no-one's supposed to know about it because some of the magic in there could be very dangerous if it fell in to the wrong hands, providing they could actually cast it that is.'

'I won't' she said. 'I wonder how only some people can cast it and others can't.'

'I have a rough idea; I got a piece of parchment from the original book that was impossible to translate, but I managed to and it said the person who wrote the book cursed the magic so only his direct descendants could use it and Salazar Slytherin was a direct descendent of that person, and you know that Voldemort-'Hermione flinched at the sound of his name, 'is Salazar's descendant and I'm Voldemort's daughter so I think that's why I can cast the magic.'

'How do you know that Salazar is his descendant?'

'Because it's written in some history books how he could alter a person's timeline and revert them back to their infancy and that is one of the spells in the book.'

'Really?' she said thoughtfully 'Well I guess we should be thankful you-know-who didn't know about the book'

'Hmmm' Leanne said, 'it is strange that he didn't know about the spells because they were passed down father to son; it was tradition.'

'Wait a minute! If your Salazar's descendant, that must mean you're a parstletongue!'

Leanne nodded 'I was worried about what might have happened in second year if people found out I was.'

'Yeah,' Hermione said, 'If they'd known you were the heir of Salazar Slytherin as well they would have arrested you, seeing as they didn't know you-know-who was possessing Ginny.'

They both fell silent for a moment; Leanne was thinking about the book.

'There was this one spell,' she said as Hermione looked up, 'that I really wanted to try, but I'm too scared to do it; it's too much of a risk'

'What is it?'

'You won't believe me,' she said warningly, 'it's a protective charm which is said to be able to block or at least weaken the effects of all spells, even the killing curse,' she said quietly.

For a second time Hermione's jaw dropped,

'All I have to do is think of the curse that I want to protect myself against whilst saying the enchantment. The only problem is that if I do it wrong I receive the full effects of the curse that I'm trying to block.'

'You should try it,' Hermione said quietly as Leanne looked at her incredulously, 'but start off with simple spells until you know you can do it properly'

'That's not actually a bad idea,' Leanne said slowly, 'would you help me practice?'

'Of course,' she said smiling, 'do you know how long the protection lasts?'

'Forever, until the spell is used on you'

'Can you cast it on other people?'

'Yes, why?' Leanne asked, frowning.

'You never know when someone close to you needs protecting' Hermione said darkly and Leanne nodded in agreement, both of them thinking the same thing; Harry.

The next week and a half passed too quickly for Harry's and Leanne's liking and before they knew it the day of the first task was upon them and they headed down to the champions enclosure where they would wait before facing dragons. Somehow all four champions knew what was coming even though they weren't supposed to, but that didn't make it any easier in them. They were each told to pick a dragon out of a bag which had a number tied around its neck telling them in which order they would be facing their dragons; Leanne was first facing the Chinese Fireball and Harry was fourth facing the Hungarian Horntail.

Harry already knew what he was going to do because he had received help from Moody, and Fleur and Krum had undoubtedly had help from their head teachers, but Leanne had received no help whatsoever.

She had looked through the book of ancient magic's desperately trying to find something that would pierce a dragons hide, and she had found something; the longest series of curses and charms she had ever seen, just to dispel the dragons magic protection – there were twenty-two in all and she seriously doubted that the dragon would let her stay still for that long, and when she had cast them all, even a simple stunner wouldn't knock it out – but she had another curse in mind for that.

All too soon the time came for Leanne to walk out into the dragon's enclosure, receiving a quick hug from Harry before she went.

She walked out into tumultuous applause and spotted the dragon at the other side watching her haughtily. She raised her wand and watched the dragon as she slowly walked closer. Okay curse number one, she thought as she pointed her wand directly at the dragons eye and shouted a long stream of words that made no sense to anyone and for one dreaded heart-stopping moment both she and the crowd thought it hadn't worked, but then a streak of purple and yellow light streak out of the end of her was with a blast like a gunshot, and hit the dragon squarely in the eye, but also sent Leanne flying backwards in a graceful arc which she managed to turn into a back-flip; she had been training to be a gymnast since about the age of three because her father wanted her to have a respectable muggle career. She landed neatly, standing straight, which earned her cheers from the crowd and a fireball from the dragon, which she wasn't quick enough to dodge as she was engulfed in flames. The crowd screamed, thinking she had been hit, but as the flames disappeared they gasped with relief as they saw her crouching behind a shield of light, with only the very ends of her hair singed.

She used the dragon's confusion to fire her second spell which hit and instead of bouncing off like a normal spell that didn't make contact with the eye would, got absorbed and the dragon roared in pain. It was just then that she saw the golden egg that she had to retrieve; if she could get it before casting all the spells it would save a lot of time. However she also saw that it was surrounded by real dragon eggs and she was sure is any of them were broken it would lose her points, also it wouldn't be fair on the mother so as the dragon roared in pain she quickly cast a protective charm on the real eggs so even if the mother trampled them they wouldn't break.

The crowed muttered when she did this, obviously wandering what she was doing, but clearly saw the judges smile and nod approvingly as the commentator told everyone what she had done. She focused her attention back on the dragon just in time as another fireball was sent her way, and kart wheeled out of the way as the crowed whooped and cheered, and fired her third spell at the dragon.

It was all going well so far, but Leanne could tell the dragon was getting frustrated. She had to speed things up a bit, so when the dragon moved forward into the centre of the enclosure, Leanne took her chance and made a lap of it, running as fast as she could so the fireballs couldn't hit her.

This way she got another eight of the spells out of the way and had almost grabbed the golden egg but couldn't afford to stop as a ball of fire and the dragon's tail came her way. Luckily she dodged both and came to a standstill once she had completed her lap; if she had kept doing it, the dragon would have seen a pattern and hit her; dragons weren't stupid.

She had now cast half of the spells and was tiring quickly. Both of them stood still for a moment, eyeing each other up, waiting for the other to make the first move, so Leanne decided to trick her opponent; she raised her wand as if to cast a spell and as she predicted the dragon attacked but Leanne dodged with a back summersault and in mid-air fired a curse and another once she landed.

The crowd and commentator were going wild, screaming with worry and excitement, but she didn't hear them; she was too focused on that task at hand. She fired more spells and dodged more attacks as she tried to ease her way over to the egg and at last she only needed to fire one more curse to break the dragon's magical protection. She was gasping for breath, but bore no injuries. Once more she raised her wand and shouted out an incantation and a beam of black light streamed from her wand and soared in to the dragons open mouth, (the intended target), and a sphere of pale blue light surrounded the dragon and shattered just as a glass would. The dragon roared in frustration as Leanne raised her wand to perform the spell which would stop the dragon. She shouted the incantation and watched wide-eyed as her hand began to glow red, and the light shot down her wand and hit the dragon right between the eyes, and, as if in slow motion, the dragon fell with an almighty crash into the rocks.

The stadium exploded with cheers as Leanne, both mentally and physically drained walked over to the eggs, lifted the enchantment from them and picked up the golden egg as a whistle sounded, signalling the end of the task. She saw Professor McGonagall running towards her, wiping tears from her eyes as she escorted Leanne inside the medical tent, where madam Pomfrey began to fuss over her.

'First dementors, now dragons! What next?' she muttered as she pulled a beaming Leanne inside and sat her down, 'Are you hurt dear?'

'No just tired,' Leanne said, unable to stop herself from grinning.

'Very well, just sit there for a minute, and then you can go and get your score,' she said and bustled off.

'Miss Burress that was amazing!' McGonagall said staring at her, 'the Headmaster said he hasn't seen any of the magic you performed before and you didn't even get a scratch! How do you know such magic?'

'I really don't know Professor,' she lied, 'can I go and get my score now?'

'Yes of course!' she said, still sounding amazed.

As Leanne walked back out into the enclosure, the stands erupted once more, and she took her place facing the judges as Dumbledore spoke.

'The marks will out of ten' he said smiling at her, as her heart pounded in anticipation. There were six judges so it would be out of sixty.

She held her breath as the first judge, Crouch, put up his wand and a ribbon shot out of it to form a number; ten! The stands cheered even harder.

The next judge, Madam Maxime; ten!

Dumbledore: ten again! Leanne's heart was beating painfully fast as the crowd cheered deafeningly.

Fudge; ten!

Karkroff looked reluctant as he raised his wand; ten!

The whole crowd and Leanne held their breath as the final judge, Ludo Bagman, raised his wand; ten!

She had received full marks! She couldn't believe it! Grinning, Leanne walked back inside the tent to lie down and listen to the commentary of the other three champions. She had never felt more alive.


	14. More Conversations

Chapter fourteen - More Conversations

Leanne listened to the commentary of the other champions intensely; Harry was the quickest to get the egg but got hurt so he came in joint second with Krum and Fleur came in last.

The highlight of the aftermath was Ron and Hermione running in to congratulate them, and Ron apologising to Harry for not believing that he didn't put his name in the cup, while Hermione marvelled at the magic Leanne had used. Cree, however maintained a stony silence, which worried Leanne; her sister had always forgiven her when she was in danger or had done something spectacularly stupid or brilliant, and the first task fell under all three headings.

Afterwards, they all headed back up to the school but Leanne was held back by Professors Dumbledore and Snape.

'Excuse me, Miss Burress, a moment please!' Dumbledore called to her as she was about to head back with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

'See you guys later,' she said to them as she walked over to the two teachers, 'yes, sir?'

'Nothing to worry about, I just wandered whether we may be able to have a quick word with you in private.' Dumbledore said smiling at her.

'Sure,' she said, and he led them into the champion's tent for some privacy.

They entered the tent and Dumbledore motioned for Leanne to sit down on one of the benches. She sat down and looked up at the two adults, feeling rather intimidated; they seemed a lot scarier when they were standing over.

'There were actually two things we wanted to speak to you about Miss Burress,' Dumbledore said looking down his long nose at her, 'One of them would be about a certain book I hear you have acquired and the other about an issue involving Professor Snape here.' He said indicating Snape, who was standing further back than the other two and looking at her, showing no emotion in his eyes.

'Uh-huh. Well, about the book, I heard about the original copy over the summer and it interested me a lot so I managed to convince the ministry to make a translated copy of it for me, and as for an issue with Professor Snape I really don't know what you're talking about.' She said truthfully.

'You don't?' said Dumbledore frowning slightly as Leanne shook her head. 'Well perhaps I should enlighten you; when was it exactly that you remember meeting Professor Snape?'

'He has been teaching me ever since I came to Hogwarts,' Leanne said, remembering the conversation she had had with Harry and Hermione.

'But you don't remember that, do you?'

Leanne stared at Dumbledore, wondering how he would know that and slowly shook her head, casting a glance towards Snape as she did so and saw that he was frowning.

'When do you remember meeting him?' Dumbledore said quietly.

'I- I first Saw Professor Snape – when you talked to the school about me being Voldemort's daughter,' Leanne said slowly, looking at the floor.

Snape made a sharp movement of surprise as she said this and Leanne looked up at him; unless she was mistaken, a flicker of pain flashed across his eyes as he looked at her.

Snape just stared at her in furious disbelief. How could she have forgotten him, and everything that had happened? Here, sitting in front of him was the girl he had fought with, fallen in love with, even kissed – and she didn't remember? How could that be!?

Leanne looked back at Dumbledore who was frowning again.

'Therefore,' he said thoughtfully, 'your memory must have been modified some point during that day. Did anyone else apart from Professor McGonagall enter your dormitory that day?'

'No, she put defensive charms around it so no-one could get in,' she said looking back at the floor, but her head snapped up again in shock, 'wait! That must mean I did it to myself!'

Blood was pounding through Snape's ears; how could she have done this to herself? Why, why had she wanted to forget him so easily – was he that repulsive in her eyes? He wanted to curse something he was so angry; he would find some reason to dock points from Potter later – that was a good way to relieve stress.

Dumbledore looked down at Leanne intensely 'Do you know why you would do this to yourself – what would be so bad that you wanted to forget it?'

Leanne stared into Dumbledore's bright blue eyes as she thought about it. What had Snape done that had been so bad? The only thing that she had ever really wanted to forget was her father beating her – had Snape hit her, or done something even worse? Or was it something that she had done, that would hurt not only her if she did anything about it. Or was it something she was too scared to do anything about, so she made herself forget?

'I- I think,' she said slowly as Snape looked up at her, 'that the only things I would want to forget are things that would hurt, not only me, but others around me if I did anything about them, or something that I knew I couldn't do anything about, which was causing me a lot of emotional or physical pain.'

Dumbledore and Snape simply stared at her; neither of them had expected her to answer in this way, it was a little frightening to know that something that related to all of these things had once happened in her past – they must have for her to feel this way.

Dumbledore turned to Snape, 'Did anything happen between the two of you that would relate to any of this?'

'No.' He said smoothly, not betraying any hint of emotion

Leanne looked at Snape thoughtfully; no matter how much he hated students, he didn't seem like a person to beat or harm one in any way.

'The only thing I've ever wanted to forget was my father beating me,' she said in barely a whisper as the others looked round in shock at her statement, anger evident on their faces.

'What?' Snape growled, taking a step forward. Leanne could see the concern on his face; she knew he didn't think she was blaming him.

'Your father beat you?' Dumbledore asked very calmly considering how furious he had looked just seconds before.

Leanne nodded, 'He hated magic – tried to beat it out of my sister, mother and I. My mother wouldn't raise her wand against him though; she loved him too much, though I can't see why. I would take the beating for them whenever I could, because I wanted to protect them, and I never backed away or even flinched when he was about to strike' she whispered staring at the floor as she talked, lost in her past, 'sometimes I would hurt him back; I could hurt him when I wanted to, but when he realised what would happen if he hit me, he hurt the others even more, so eventually I stopped fighting back and went back to protecting them as best as I could. Even though I was the youngest, I was the strongest, always putting others before myself. When my father left after my mother died, and Cree came to Hogwarts, I was left to live on my own, without any money, living in an abandoned flat in the middle of London.' She looked up at Dumbledore and Snape with tears welling up in her eyes, as they stared down at her, lost for words, 'I never let myself forget though, not even now, because it reminds me of how strong I once was.'

'And still are,' Dumbledore said softly.

Leanne shook her head, 'I've never ran away from anything in my life, so if I was strong, I wouldn't have ran away from whatever happened – I wouldn't have let myself forget.'

They didn't say anything, but she hadn't expected them to right away.

'Like you said; one of the things you would forget is something that would hurt someone else. You may have sacrificed your memories to protect someone else.' Dumbledore said gently, and Snape frowned thoughtfully at this, but it went unnoticed.

Leanne looked at Dumbledore for a moment, also deep in thought.

'Maybe,' she said finally, 'but how does that affect professor Snape? It's not like I could do anything to protect him and I know he wouldn't have done anything to hurt me, which was the other thing I would want to forget,'

'I highly doubt that Miss Burress would have anything to run away from, that happened involving me, unless she was suddenly overcome with grief at what happened earlier this year.' Said Snape smirking slightly; he wasn't going to mention the kiss – it wasn't worth losing his job over, especially if she had forgot. Besides – who was to say how much it had really affected her.

'What happened?' Leanne asked frowning

The other two looked at her incredulously.

'You don't remember?' Dumbledore asked as Leanne shook her head, and Dumbledore quickly explained all that had happened that evening. By the end of the explanation Leanne was completely bemused. How had all that happened without her knowledge?

'Ah, it seems we have outstayed our welcome in the world of the outdoors,' Dumbledore said brightly, indicating the dark sky outside the tent. They walked back up to the school, Leanne with the egg under her arm.

'Professor,' Leanne said to Dumbledore, 'How did you know that I had forgotten Professor Snape?'

'I heard it from Professor McGonagall, who had received the intelligence from Miss Granger,' he said with a slight chuckle as Leanne rolled her eyes, 'I also heard that you wished to study Occlumency and Legilimency, am I correct?'

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that. After I found out about Voldemort being my father, I thought it may be a good idea.'

'Do you still wish to learn?' he asked her.

'Well it would be useful, but I'd have to find someone to teach me.' She replied.

'Indeed,' Dumbledore said with a slight twinkle in his eye, 'Well perhaps Professor Snape would be kind enough as to tutor you; after all he does excel at both of them.'

But by the look in Snape's eyes, he would rather have hugged Harry.

'Erm...' Leanne said glancing at Snape, and trying her best not to laugh at his expression.

'You do not object do you Severus?' Dumbledore said smiling slightly at Snape who rather looked like he would have liked nothing better than to strangle him.

'Of course not' he said stiffly.

'Excellent' Dumbledore said brightly, and Leanne got the impression he was rather enjoying annoying him, 'I am sure that you will arrange a time that is suitable for the both of you, and I wish to hear that you are both working hard.'

They both made noises of ascent, unable to speak; Snape through anger and Leanne through trying not to laugh at Snape's anger. Dumbledore caught Leanne's eye briefly and gave her a wink as they entered the entrance hall and they all went their separate ways.

Leanne practically ran up to Gryffindor tower with the egg under her arm, laughing all the way until she reached the portrait hole and gasped the password to the fat lady and entered the common room. A party was in full swing when she arrived, and she dragged into the middle of it where she found Harry, Ron and Hermione arguing whether or not to open the egg in front of everyone.

'Hey,' she shouted to them as she approached, but didn't hear their reply as a loud chorus of 'OPEN THE EGGS!' burst out from the spectators.

'On three,' Leanne shouted to harry as they both prepared to open them, 'one, two, and three!'

On three they both opened their eggs but immediately, they slammed them shut as a loud, piercing screech came from them.

'What the hell was that?'

'Maybe you're going to have the Cruciatus curse put on you?' suggested Neville who had gone pale.

'Don't be stupid Neville, that's illegal!' Dean Thomas shouted.

'Maybe you're going to have to battle a banshee next?' said Seamus.

'It sounded like Percy singing!' Fred Weasley interjected.

'Yeah, maybe you have to attack him while he's in the shower?' George said.

The whole common room burst into raucous laughter at this, even Hermione giggled.

'What do you think?' Harry asked Leanne.

'Harry! You're supposed to work out the clue on your own!' Hermione reprimanded as Leanne opened her mouth to tell him; she already knew that sound – she had seen some merpeople when she fell into the Black Lake and nearly drowned in her first year (she had never learned to swim).

The party lasted well into the night again and as usual Fred and George sneaked off to the kitchens and brought back armfuls of food to the delight of everyone. Leanne didn't get a chance to tell Harry, Ron and Hermione about her occlumency lessons until everyone else went to be around two in the morning.

'Hey, Leanne,' Ron said from where he lay on a couch, 'what did Dumbledore and Snape want?'

'They wanted to talk about how I'd forgotten Snape,' she replied lazily glancing over at Hermione who was dozing in a chair nearby.

'What did they say?' Harry asked.

'Nothing much, just asked when I remember first seeing Snape, and worked out that I must have modified my own memory for some reason, then Dumbledore asked Snape if he'd done anything to me.'

'What do you mean 'done anything to you'?' said Ron sitting up sharply and looking revolted, 'he didn't _try_ anything on you did he?'

Leanne looked at him for a second, confused, before realising how what she said had sounded.

'No!' she said laughing as Ron and Harry sighed with relief, 'well, at least he says he didn't, but it's not like he would admit it.' She said laughing at the looks on the boys faces.

'I think I'm going to be sick!' Harry said, as they all laughed.

'Well if he did, he won't be able to hide it for long; I'm going to be learning how to break into people's minds.'

Leanne looked over at their confused expressions and told them about their arrangement – they looked horrified at the prospect of her having extra lessons with Snape, but looked rather pleased when she told them Dumbledore had enjoyed annoying him even though it came at her expense.

Hermione shifted in her sleep and Leanne looked at her, remembering her promise to help with her spells. She wasn't going to have any free time this year, not with the lessons from Snape, homework, the tournament, practicing spells with Hermione and she also wanted to improve her animagus form. She could already turn into a beautiful golden retriever, but the book had told her how to have more than one animagus form, and she was determined to try it. She had been able to become a dog for a year now, and that was how she had first met Sirius Black.

She had been wandering round the grounds one night, celebrating becoming an animagus, when he had bounded out at her in his dog form, but once they realised they were both animagus, they had got to talking as humans; she trusted him for some reason, and didn't report him when she should have.

She didn't know whether Harry, Ron and Hermione knew about her animagus form, and wandered if she should tell them or not. She knew they would think it was amazing so she decided to transform without telling them. When Harry was looking the other way and Ron yawned she took her chance and silently turned into a dog, and curled up in her chair.

It took Ron a few seconds to stop yawning but when he did he looked at where Leanne had previously and leapt up yelling in shock. Hermione, who had woken up at the shout and Harry looked round at him and followed his gaze, also yelling as the saw a dog instead of Leanne.

When she couldn't take it anymore, Leanne turned back into human form and fell off her chair laughing at their surprise. They just stared at her rolling around on the floor, completely lost for words.

'W- w-How?' Ron stammered pointing feebly at her.

She stopped laughing and looked up at the still gasping for breath.

'I-I' an animagus,' she said fighting to get her words out.

'When?'Hermione gasped wide-eyed.

'For a year,' she said managing to get up of the floor.

'A year?' Harry said astounded, 'why didn't you tell us?'

Leanne shrugged, 'I guess I just didn't want anyone to know, in case Dumbledore or the ministry found out; it's the ultimate disguise.'

'So no-one knew?' Hermione asked, finally getting over the shock.

'Well Sirius did,' she said slowly, 'because we kept each other company last year; I met him the very first night I managed to become an animagus. He christened me Goldie and I named him Snuffles.'

'He never told us,' Harry said

'I asked him not to.'

'Do it again!' Ron interjected, clearly no paying attention to what had just been said.

Leanne obliged and the others laughed in delight as she pranced round in front of them.

'Here girl, come here,' Ron said jokingly as Leanne bounded forward and knocked him onto his back as the others roared with laughter. Leanne snapped at him playfully, before curling up on his chest and refusing to move. Eventually after lots of complaining she moved and hopped onto the couch next to Harry and put her head in his lap, and he gently scratched behind her ears as she growled contently. The others looked surprised at this but didn't say anything. They all sat down, fairly tired from that exertion and one by one dropped off, Leanne still in her dog form with her head in Harry's lap.

The next morning they were woken by the sound of Fred and George coming into the common room and spotting the dog in Harry's lap. All five of them laughed as 'Goldie' covered her eyes with her front paws.

'Well who do we have here?' Fred asked, smiling as he came over and petted Leanne's head.

Leanne looked up at him, hopped off the couch and sat down in front of the twins as they stroked her.

'This is Goldie' Harry said trying not to laugh as 'Goldie' leapt up at Fred and George. Next some second year girls came down, saw Leanne and rushed over, saying how beautiful she was. In no time at all, all of Gryffindor was in the common room, watching as Leanne bounded round, clearly happy at all the attention she was receiving, and behaving in a thoroughly doggish manner.

'She's going to have to spend the day as a dog, isn't she?' Harry asked Ron and Hermione quietly, and they nodded, clearly worried that she may not be able to handle it.

Thankfully, as most people headed down to breakfast Leanne managed to sneak up to her dormitory and change back to human form, laughing as she did so; everyone had believed she was really a dog.


	15. The first lesson

Chapter fifteen – 

The next couple of weeks passed in a blur, and before anyone knew it, it was only two weeks before the Christmas break and Professor McGonagall made a strange announcement in Transfiguration.

'The Yule Ball is approaching, and it is a traditional part of the Tri-wizard tournament, and also an opportunity to socialise with our foreign guests. The ball will only be open to fourth-years an above, but you may invite a younger student if you wish.'

At this Lavender Brown let out a shrill giggle and she and Parvati Patil looked round at Harry, who was sitting with Ron, Hermione and Leanne.

'Even though the Ball is a chance to 'let our hair down' I still expect every one of you to behave your best.'

The bell rang signalling the end of the lesson and over the noise caused by everyone getting up McGonagall called 'Potter, Burress – a word if you please.'

They proceeded up to her desk, Harry looking gloomy because he had been caught duelling with Ron with rubber wands which had a chicken and a haddock springing out of the end of either of them.

'Potter, Burress, the champions and their partners-'

'What partners?' said Harry.

McGonagall looked at him with daggers in her eyes, thinking that he was trying to act funny.

'Your partners for the Yule Ball, Potter,' she said coldly, 'your dance partners.'

Leanne looked side wards at Harry who looked like he was about to shrivel up as he went red and she suppressed a laugh.

'I don't dance' he said quickly.

'Oh yes you do,' she said irritably, 'the champions and their partners open the dance, so both you and Miss Burress, will have to dance along with the other champions, with your partners.'

Leanne looked side wards at Harry again, and he looked positively alarmed, and she wandered what he was thinking.

'I'm not dancing' he said

'It's traditional,' said Professor McGonagall firmly, 'the two of you are Hogwarts champions and you will do what is expected of you as a representative of the school. So make sure you both get partners.'

Leanne nodded and smiled at the look on Harry's face.

'But- I don't-'

'You heard me Potter.'

Leanne found that as soon as she stepped out of McGonagall's room that day, that she was in for letting a lot of people down. When she and Harry had taken less than five steps out of McGonagall's class room, a sixth year boy from Gryffindor approached her.

'Excuse me, Leanne,' he said nervously as he approached them. Leanne looked at him in surprise at this random attack of someone she barely knew. He was tall, dark haired with gorgeous hazel eyes, set in a pale skinned face and the most amazing smile she had ever seen, was this guy a male veela or something? She had never seen him up close before, but had always admired him, and almost melted the one time he had smiled at her when she was in first year. 'I was just wondering whether you have a date to the ball yet.' He said nervously.

'I- er, what... what was your name again?' she stammered, faltering under his gaze.

'Oh,' he said blushing, 'sorry, I forgot. My name's Tom Randle.' He said holding out a hand to her which she took, and she blushed furiously when he brushed his lips over it.

'So,' he said with one of his heart stopping smiles, 'Will you?'

'Yes, of course.' Leanne said rather breathlessly, trying her best not to break down into a pile of jelly, 'I'd love to'

'Excellent,' he said softly smiling, 'I have to go now, but I will speak to you later?'

Leanne nodded, not trusting herself to speak, as he bowed his head slightly to her and walked off. She turned to Harry with a huge grin on her face, but it faltered when she saw he was frowning.

'What?' she said, bringing Harry out of his thoughts.

'He looks like Tom Riddle; acts like him too.' He said quietly.

'I don't care, he's gorgeous!' she said, momentarily forgetting who Tom Riddle was.

'I think you're forgetting; Tom Riddle is your father!' he said sharply.

It took a moment for Leanne to register what he said, the slapped her hand to her mouth in shock.

'Shit,' she breathed. 'Oh, well,' she said in sarcastic enthusiasm, 'that's one way to put me off my date; he's the modern day, less snake-like version of your dad!'

Harry was about to say something when Professor McGonagall came out of her room and eyed them suspiciously.

'What are you still doing here?'

'I just agreed to go to the Ball with Tom Riddle- Randle!' she said quickly correcting herself.

McGonagall raised her eyebrows at the use of the names but whatever her thoughts she covered them and said, 'Well that was fast, you barely took five steps out of my door and you have a date. Potter I hope you were paying attention,' she added with a smile, as Harry scowled, 'oh and Professor Snape said to tell you tonight, eight o'clock, his office. I don't know why; he didn't give a reason.'

Leanne nodded as McGonagall walked off, Harry still scowling after her. Well, she thought, I'm going to the ball with my father's look-alike, and I have a lesson with Snape tonight, whoop die-doo!

That evening she was sitting in the common room with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny and they were talking about the ball.

'I can't believe you already have a date,' Ginny said enviously, 'Who is it?'

'Tom Randle,' she said.

'Who?' said Hermione.

'He's a sixth year, in Gryffindor.' She said, 'look, that's him over by the window.' She said pointing over to where Tom was talking to his friends. He caught her eye, smiled and winked at her, before turning back to his friends.

Leanne looked at the others; Harry was frowning, Ron had raised his eyebrows, Hermione looked a little jealous but Ginny had gone extremely pale and looked sickly.

'What's the matter Ginny,' Leanne asked frowning.

'He looks like Tom Riddle,' she whispered.

'That's what Harry said' Leanne mused.

'They're identical,' Ginny croaked, tears straining her eyes as Ron moved to put his arm around his little sister to comfort her.

'Identical?' Hermione breathed, looking quite horrified.

'Great, now I am going to the Ball with Voldemort.' Leanne muttered, 'and it's too late to call it off.'

'Don't worry,' Hermione said consolingly, whilst looking terrified at the prospect of Lord Voldemort at the Yule Ball, 'he's not really you-know-who, and if he was, he wouldn't do anything right under Dumbledore's nose, would he?'

Leanne nodded slowly.

'Ugh!' said Ron suddenly, 'What if he kisses you? It'd be like kissing you dad- even worse, kissing you-know-who!'

At this everyone apart from Leanne laughed at the thought of Voldemort kissing Leanne.

'Leanne, it's nearly eight,' Harry reminded her, still panting for breath. Leanne nodded, bid goodbye to them all, and headed for the dungeons.

She walked up to Snape's door, feeling rather apprehensive about what was to come, and checked her watch, seeing that she was a couple of minutes early. Slowly she raised her fist and knocked on the door.

'Enter,' came his voice from within, and she opened the door and shut it behind her.

Snape was sitting behind his desk looking at her through his curtains of hair. He motioned to the seat in front of his desk, which she took, getting the impression from Snape's look that he would rather be swimming with the giant squid than in here with her.

'Well, Miss Burress,' he said as she took her seat, 'you know why you are here I presume?'

Leanne nodded but said nothing.

'First of all, what do you know about Occlumency and Legilimency?' he asked as he coldly surveyed her through his beetle-black, empty eyes.

'Occlumency is the art of being able to block your mind from external penetration, and prevent memories from being brought up by someone else, so you can lie without being caught.' She said as Snape nodded briefly and motioned her to continue, 'I don't know much about Legilimency, apart from it is the ability to break into people's minds to see whether they are lying or not I presume, seeing as it related with Occlumency.'

Snape nodded. 'Very good, at least you had the presence of mind to use the correct terms, instead of thinking Legilimency is simple mind-reading.'

Leanne gave a small emotionless smile at this, it was more out of triumph; she had already overcome his expectations of her and she had been there less than a minute.

'Stand up and take out your wand,' he said suddenly, and Leanne did so, moving further back in to the office to give Snape some space as he walked out from behind his desk, drawing his wand as he went.

They faced each other, wands at the ready, and Leanne's heart beat a little faster.

'I am going to attempt to break into your mind, you may try to repel me with your wand if you wish, but try to repel me with your mind only, but be warned, I will bring up memories you may have forgotten over the years, and also ones that you have forgot... recently.' He said, and Leanne didn't like the smirk growing on his lips.

'On the count of three. One, two... Legilimens!' Snape cried.

Leanne was eleven at Olivanders and she had just bought her wand; thirteen and a half inches, yew with two cores – phoenix tail feather, and dragon heart string – the only wand in existence to have more than one core. Olivander was telling her that only a very powerful witch or wizard could use this and he was surprised the wand had chosen an eleven year old girl as its owner.

She was in third tear and fifty dementors were gliding towards her and even though the cold was spreading through her body she remained calm and unconsciously raided her wand and a silvery dragon shot out the end of it.

It was the end of her first year at Hogwarts and Harry and Leanne stood, watching in horror as Quirrell undid his turban to reveal the face of Lord Voldemort.

She was eight years old and she stood in front of her mother and sisters cowering forms with her arms outstretched as her father raised his fist to hit her out of the way.

'No!' Leanne thought 'I don't want to see this!'

Her eyes flew open, unaware that they were closed and saw Snape looking at her calculatingly.

'Very good Miss Burress, you saw a memory you didn't like and managed to push me out of your head with ease, this was excellent for a first attempt, but you still need a lot of work.'

Leanne nodded and glanced at her wand, remembering how hurt she had felt when Olivander said he didn't think she was powerful enough to wield it.

She looked back up at Snape and raised her eye brows; he was still staring at her.

'Is there something else, Professor?' she asked lightly.

Snape blinked, sighed and said, 'The last memory, did that happen often at home?'

Leanne stared at him. Why did he care, he didn't look concerned exactly, just blank. Leanne nodded, deciding it was best not to ignore his question.

'Let's try again,' he said after a small pause, 'ready? Legilimens!'

Leanne was sitting alone in an abandoned flat and Cree had just left for Hogwarts, so she was on her own for a whole year.

She was on a stage singing 'what do you get when you fall in love' whilst the audience looked very impressed at the mature voice coming from the ten-year-old.

Her eyes flew open again and she began to feel slightly dizzy. She looked at Snape for a moment, extremely unfocused, before shaking her head violently and looking back at him.

'Sorry,' she said, 'just a bit dizzy.'

'And again,' he said, 'Legilimens'

She was in her first year and the Weasley twins were pretending to kidnap her, saying they wanted to use her in their evil plans.

Her primary school teacher was asking where she had got all the bruises.

She was watching with terror filled eyes as Harry was nearly sent flying off his jinxed broom.

She was near the lake with Harry as their lips almost met. At this moment she felt Snape's anger and he pushed deeper.

Tom Randle kissed her hand as he asked her to the Yule Ball earlier that day.

Leanne saw her mother lying dying in a pool of blood; the way her father had left her.

She stood in the middle of her dormitory with tear tracks on her cheeks, her wand pointed at her face as a picture of Snape crossed her mind and she wiped her memory.

Snape approached her outside of the hospital wing and he kissed her passionately.

For a third time, Leanne's eyes flew open and she found herself on her hands and knees, staring at the floor, as a curious sensation made her stomach lurch. She had just seen Snape kiss her, and knew it was one of the memories she had made herself forget. And then there was her mother, dying and she could do nothing about it. Snape had brought up these memories and he was going to pay for it.

Leanne looked up at Snape with blazing eyes, to see that he looked equally as angry; his face was whiter than usual, the eyes which were usually empty burned with rage and his hand was clenched tightly round his wand.

She stood up slowly and purposefully, glaring at him with hate-filled eyes.

'I think you had better leave,' said Snape in a deadly whisper that would have had any other student running and screaming in the other direction.

But Leanne didn't move.

'OUT!' he roared and she flinched but didn't leave.

'No,' she breathed, anger flooding her brain, she wanted to curse that greasy bastard into next week.

Snape moved forward and tried to grab Leanne's arm to force her to move, completely forgetting his wand, but Leanne quickly used a non-verbal spell to disarm him. He came to a halt as Leanne caught his wand and pointed hers at his chest.

'What do you think you are doing?' he hissed at her.

Leanne weighed her options; she could kill him then make a run for it, she could torture then kill him and make a run for it or they could talk this out like adults. However tempting the first two sounded, she didn't want to run again, so she chose the third option.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down she asked, 'why did you kiss me?'

Snape looked startled at her calm voice but then sneered.

'And here I was thinking that oh-so-clever-Leanne-Burress knew everything. I thought the reason would be obvious.'

Leanne tilted her head to the side and it was her turn to sneer.

'Oh but it is! You decided on a mere whim to kiss a fourteen year old girl and manage to do something that her stupid sadistic father had been trying all her life, which is break her, and only in a matter of days, being, of course, the perverted slimy git that you are!' she said, her voice raising with every word she spoke until she was shouting at that he would very much e man before her.

Snape froze, unable to find his voice; her words had startled him. He stared at her, feeling that he would very much like to kill her just then. His eyes flicked between the wand in her hand and his in her other, and her anger-filled eyes, and knew she wouldn't let him go without an explanation. Slowly he turned round, walked over to his desk and leant against it, his thumb and middle finger rubbing the bridge of his nose. Finally he looked up at Leanne who still looked livid, with her wand pointed at him.

'Leanne, I kissed you because I had feelings for you,' he said stiffly, wishing that he were anywhere else but here, 'You didn't seem like a child to me, and the events that occurred that night proved it; only the most powerful full grown wizards could have overthrown me as easily as you did. And I assure you, I never meant to hurt you in any way.'

Leanne stared at him expressionlessly as she thought over what he said. Finally she lowered her wand and threw his back to him saying, 'Right, we forget this ever happened, what's done, is done. Come, the lesson isn't over yet and I want to be able to push you from my mind before you get there, by the time the night is up.'

Snape stared at her angrily, at a loss for words over her sudden authority. If this was any other student, he would have cursed them and given them detention for a month if they spoke to him like that, but with her he had earned it, for now at least. He got up slowly and looked Leanne in the eye before non-verbally casting the spell and catching her off guard.

Leanne was in primary school and was having to sit out of gym due to broken ribs.

She pushed him out again, but within a second he was back in.

She was sitting on a desk in Snape's office and they were kissing passionately as he ran his hands up her legs and under her skirt.

Again he was pushed out and he was looking at her quizzically.

'Er... I'm still standing by the whole forget this thing.' Leanne said turning slightly pink and Snape raised his eyebrows.

He cast the spell once more but Leanne pushed him out straight away. She found that if she tried to forget all emotion this was easy. She supposed she had to thank her natural ability to remain stoic when needed.

The next time he cast the spell he didn't enter her mind and he just looked at her.

'Very good. You have blocked all emotion without being told to and have succeeded in blocking me out entirely. When were you born?' he asked suddenly.

'Yesterday sir.' She said blandly, looking him in the eye.

'Where do you live?'

'In the belly of a kangaroo' she said, still staring at him.

'What is your favourite food?'

'Burning rubber'

'What is your father's name?'

'Ginger bread man.'

'Okay, so you were born yesterday, you live in the belly of a kangaroo, your favourite food is burning rubber and your father's name is Ginger bread man. Correct?'

'Yes sir.'

They looked at each other for a moment then burst out laughing.

'If anybody interrogated me they would think I was crazy!' Leanne exclaimed, looking up at Snape who was also laughing, all animosity forgotten. Leanne had never seen Snape laugh before and it was quite enthralling; he no longer looked like a sullen overgrown bat – he looked almost human for once.

'Well, sir,' she choked once she had stopped laughing enough to speak, 'how did I do?'

Snape looked at her thoughtfully for a moment.

'Very good, but I would like you to lie to me tomorrow as well, just at regular intervals so I don't know when you are doing it, and this time,' he added with a smile, 'please make up believable lies; I don't want to hear your homework ran away with a quill to the moon.'

'Oh darn it,' she said sarcastically, 'that's what I was going to say.'

They laughed softly again. Leanne looked at her teacher and felt something growing in her chest as she looked at him smiling at her, and looked away quickly and retained her stoic demeanour.

'Will I also be learning Legilimency from you sir?' She asked him.

'Yes, but I see no point in starting that tonight, you may go, he said and she nodded and began heading for the door, 'oh, one more thing... Legilimens!'

He pointed his wand at her again.

She was out in the grounds and she transformed into a dog for the first time.

Leanne pushed Snape out of her head again and bit her lip; what would he say to her being an animagus? Would she get in trouble?

Snape was frowning at her. How is she an animagus? He thought as he looked at her biting her lip nervously and looking at him, also thinking that she looked extremely cute as she chewed her lip. Suddenly he felt himself throb as he watched her, and realised he needed to be on his own quickly.

'How long have you been an animagus?' he asked her, hoping that he wasn't showing through his robes.

'Over a year,' she said, 'will you tell anyone?'

Snape studied her for a moment and agreed with himself that the quickest way to get her to leave was to say no.

'No,' he said, 'you may go.'

Leanne nodded, looking grateful and left the room. Snape groaned as he felt his trousers become awfully tight as he stiffened.

--

Sorry I took so long to update! This is Kinda gettin wierd cos I'm runnin ot of ideas lol. I'll be makin Leanne less Mary sue-ish next chapter so don't worry lol!


	16. The Yule Ball

Sorry I took so long to update but I've been busy at school and I've started thinking about writing another story as well as this one, but anyways, I've tried to make Leanne less of a Mary-sue so tell me what you think please! R&R! Enjoy!!

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The weeks passed quickly and before anyone knew it, Christmas was upon them. Leanne woke up early on Christmas day to find everyone still asleep, and all the beds had a pile of presents on them. She looked at her clock and saw it was only 5:00am, so she decided to open her presents later; she didn't want to wake everyone else earlier than they wanted to be.

Leanne lay there thinking about the past two weeks. She had started Legilimency with Snape, but it was proving very difficult, and she still hadn't managed to break into his mind, even when he said he wasn't trying to block her out. He had told her to become emotionless whilst doing it, but built up frustration at not being able to do it, and anger at Snape for not telling her how to do it properly were making it rather difficult. Also, since the first lesson, Snape had been treating her almost as bad as he would Harry; insulting her when she couldn't do something, making snide remarks about her and agreeing that her wand shouldn't have chosen someone as weak as her.

Another thing going badly was her sessions with Hermione; she had only managed to protect herself from a tickling charm so far, and she couldn't see how useful that would be in a duel, unless her opponent was planning to put on her death certificate 'death by laughter'. Furthermore, trying to have more than one animagus form wasn't working, and Leanne wandered whether even the writer of the book had been able to take more than one more form without Transfiguration.

All in all, she was pretty depressed at the moment. After all the lessons she had had with Snape telling her to be emotionless and hide her feelings, she had become an emotionless wreck – a bit like a female version of Snape, except the part about being an overgrown bat. She rarely smiled and never laughed meaning it, she would only put it on for show, she would sit by herself and become irritable with anyone who would talk to her and she couldn't help making snide remarks about everyone. Leanne had gone from happy, cheerful and relatively carefree, to emotionless, bland and snarky.

The only person, apart from Snape, who hadn't been put off or worried by this, was Tom Randle. He had stuck around and he seemed to almost prefer the less excitable more serious version of Leanne Burress. Their relationship had been going very well, but Leanne didn't know how she felt about this; she hadn't forgotten the warning of his likeness to the teenage version of her father. He hadn't kissed her yet, but he liked to spend time with her in the library when they were revising, and Leanne had found herself to be enjoying that too; in fact, she had become rather attracted to him, and felt that she needed to see him when he wasn't around; she was obsessed, but not clingy. He was the only one who could make her smile and mean it.

When the others finally woke up they all opened their presents together and Leanne thanked them all with forced smiles, and they fell for it; she was a good enough actor to be convincing. Later that day, after lunch, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys all went outside and had a ferocious snowball fight but at five Hermione went inside to get ready and at six so did Leanne.

She entered the dormitory to find Hermione using liberal amounts of potion on her hair that would make it straight, and her robes, a light blue dress robe, lay on her bed.

'Your dress is very beautiful Hermione,' Leanne said, once again forcing a smile that she made reach her eyes.

'Thanks,' she replied, beaming.

Leanne quickly washed and walked over to her wardrobe and took out her robes and laid them on her bed. She then conjured up a full length mirror and studied her reflection. Deciding her hair would look better straight, she charmed it so; now instead of dark-brown curls reaching the small of her back, she now had straight flowing hair reaching half-way down her thighs. She then cut her hair so it reached the small of her back again when it was straight. Next she put a little bit of make-up on and turned to her dress; it was a white satin dress with blue floral patterns along the skirt. She out it on and looked at herself in the mirror, but quickly charmed the dress to make it black with silver patterns. She considered herself for a minute; the dress was low-cut and strapless and it went in at her waist and hugged it elegantly. The lower part was slightly gathered and it had a slit down her right leg so it would show when she moved. Then she put on a diamond pendant, silver dangly earrings, and also a silver extremely thin chain with a few diamonds hanging off it on her wrist. And as for her shoes, she wore black ones with slightly raised heels, which had previously been white; owing to the fact she had bought them to match her dress. Also she wore long gloves, again black, that went up to the same level as her dress, to hide her dark mark.

Leanne and Hermione turned round at the same time and they gaped at each other; both of them had straight hair, but Hermione's was up in an elegant bun and her light blue dress completely changed her.

'You look gorgeous!' they gasped in unison, and even Leanne meant it. She had never imagined that Hermione could be anything but a plain old book-worm.

Within the next half an hour, all the girls in their dormitory were ready to go down and they headed down in to the common room together. It looked fuller than before because of the absence of all the usual black robes.

They all went down to the Great hall to join their partners. Leanne met up with Tom who looked particularly handsome in his black dress robes. The champions and their partners lined up outside the great hall and waited for the time to enter; the rest of the school was already in there. The doors swung open and the eight of them walked in to tumultuous applause.

They took their place and the music began. It was rather a quick dance and Tom had his arms securely around Leanne's waist. She felt her stomach flutter as he smiled at her and she returned it. Slowly other couples made their way onto the dance floor and joined in, including the teachers. Leanne caught Snape's eye as she was dancing, and noticed that he hadn't moved for the past half hour, since the start of the ball. She smiled to herself knowing that there was no-one who was willing to dance with him, even though it was more likely that there was no-one he was willing to dance with.

After another half an hour tom and Leanne agreed to go outside for some fresh air, and walked into the empty courtyard, hand in hand. By now she had stopped worrying who he looked liked, because he made her feel even remotely happy. They turned to look at each other and Tom surveyed her.

'You look more beautiful than ever,' Tom murmured, gazing at her as if she was the most precious jewel in the world.

'You're not so bad yourself' Leanne said flirtatiously, and bit her lower lip as he stepped closer and put his hands around her waist. He looked down into her eyes intently for a moment, before closing the gap between them and kissing her. The kiss was so soft and gentle at first but it grew in intensity as Leanne slid her arms around Tom's neck. She felt his tongue graze her lip and allowed it to enter her mouth. Leanne didn't know how long they stood there, in the secluded area of the courtyard, drinking in the bliss that was each other, before they parted, slightly out of breath. Tom rested his forehead against hers and smiled.

They stood there for some time in each others arms, occasionally kissing, not needing to speak. After a while, Tom did however.

'Can I ask you something?' he said gently

'Yeah' she replied.

'Why don't you friends like me?' he said frowning slightly.

'What makes you think they don't like you?'

'Apart from hearing them say they dont?' he smiled

'Well, it's just, you remind them of a boy called Tom Riddle, you look identical apparantly.' Leanne said slowly, not wanting to hurt him.

'Who is Tom Riddle?' he asked, not seeming angry, but there was something in his voice that she didn't like.

'Well, erm - Voldemort' she said quietly removing her arms from around his neck, whilst he kept his around her waist. 'My - father.'

'Voldemort - is your father?' he said slowly.

'Didn't you know? it was all over the school.' Leanne said incredulously.

'I just kissed,' he said slowly as his grip on her waist tightened and Leanne looked away tears in her eyes, fearing that he would hate her for being the daughter of an evil man, 'my daughter! You are my daughter?'

'What!?' Leanne yelped and tried to pull away, 'Your daughter!? What the hell do you mean?'

'Quiet,' he said soft all of a sudden as he pulled out his wand, 'compose your self, and sit down'

Leanne glanced at the wand in his hand then walked over to the bench he had indicated. She wandered for a moment if he would use it on her but he simply cast a charm to let him know if anyone was coming. He walked over and stood in front of her.

'I have been looking for you, just listen' he said as she opened her mouth to speak. Leanne didn't know why she wasn't screaming by now, maybe because her voice was lost in her throat and she was dead scared, 'I performed a piece of magic when I was seventeen to make a piece of my subconcious find an heir of slytherin should the need arise, or if their life was in danger or something along those lines. I got to know you because you had the capability to be extremely powerful. I first found you in your third year when you were surrounded by dementors and I, well, helped you. You see, I was going to use you to get my body back, because I needed someone strong to do so, and I didn't have any followers I could trust nearby. But then Wormtail returned to me as you know, and it seemed I had no use for you at the time and could have easily disposed of you. However I decided to try and persuade you to join the dark side when you were older, but know I know you are my daughter, you shall join me now.'

Leanne had simply stared at him throughout the whole speech and still did so. She took note of how he hadn't offered her a choice of whether or not to join and was just about to say something on the matter when Tom's spell signaled someone was approaching.

'Quick,' he said softly and pulled her up and pressed his body to her.

'What are you doing!?' she whispered as he put his lips very close to her neck.

'Quiet, tell me who is coming' he said softly and his lips brushed her neck, sending a shiver down her spine, 'And act convincing'

Leanne gingerly put her arms around his neck again, repulsed that he was her father, and shivering as she felt his breath hit her neck. She looked over his shoulder surreptitiously and saw through the slits that were her eyes, Snape standing there, a mix of anger and disguist on his face as he looked at her.

'It's Snape' she murmured to him, barely moving her lips.

Leanne felt Tom open his mouth to say something but Snape beat him to it.

'Twenty points from Griffindor the two of you' he said in a lazy drawl, and Tom Turned around to face him, 'Now get back inside before I make it fifty'

For a moment Leanne thought Voldemort would curse Snape  
but he simply threw him a looke of deep disguist and walked away, holding Leanne's hand.

'You may not know' he said quietly to her as they walked away, 'but he used to be my right hand man, but now he has run to Dumbledore, he will die.


	17. More trouble

**Chapter 17**

Leanne woke up on Boxing Day with an extremely bad headache, and such a busy mind she was ready to explode. Everything that had happened last night ran through her mind as she lay there. She had found out that the person who had just kissed her was actually her father, then had been told, without being given a choice, that she was to join the dark side and aid in her father's resurrection. What was she going to do? Should she tell Dumbledore, or would that put her at risk seeing that there was no proof that 'Tom' was actually Lord Voldemort.

Leanne thought about everything he had said. By the sound of it, it was Tom who had made her powers grow when she was surrounded by dementors and she was really just an average student. He had told her just the previous night after they had been sent indoors by Snape, that he was actually the one to make her buy the book and he had charmed it, using a very complex piece of magic, to make the owner extremely powerful.

She sighed; her life was officially over; if she refused to join Voldemort, he would take away her powers and she would be left defenceless against him, but if she did join, well, she didn't want to think about it. There was no way that she was a good enough Occlumens to become a spy as Snape had been back in his days as a death eater, so if she wanted to stay alive, she would have to become as evil and twisted as her father.

'No,' she thought suddenly, 'I would rather die than betray my friends here after all they have fought for, especially Harry. I'll tell him today. But I need to be able to defend myself; it's like that he will give me time to reconsider my decision, after a lot of torture no doubt.'

She got up, washed and dressed, making up her mind as she did so that she would destroy that book that Voldemort had made her buy once she got back. She headed down to the great hall to find that it was completely abandoned of students apart from a couple of Hufflepuff first years and a table full of teachers. Leanne went over to the Gryffindor table and sat down, helping herself to some tea and toast, as she pondered what to tell Tom, but didn't have much time to ponder the matter as she saw him walk in to the hall barely two minutes after she did. He spotted her and walked over and sat beside her.

'Good morning daughter,' he said quietly to her as he kissed her cheek. She shivered as he did so, but knew it was only because he was keeping up the act of 'them'.

'If I were you I wouldn't call me that when there are other people around,' she said coolly, even though she was shaking with fear.

'No-one can hear us,' he whispered, now tucking her hair behind her ear. She shivered again.

'So?' she said angrily, wanting desperately to pull away. Voldemort laughed softly.

'Do I repulse you?' he asked her smirking slightly, but didn't wait for an answer, 'We shall leave Hogwarts tonight.'

'I'm not going,' Leanne said in a shaky voice, wincing slightly as Voldemort's hand clamped down over her wrist, 'I'm a Gryffindor, and I won't betray my friends.'

'You will do as Lord Voldemort tells you,' he said dangerously as his eyes flashed red.

'No,' she said, shaking so badly she wanted to cry. Leanne had the sudden urge to fling herself on to her knees and beg for forgiveness as she looked straight into his eyes, but she resisted.

'Yes, you will,' he whispered threateningly, as he put a hand on her thigh and slowly began running it upwards.

'What are you doing!?' she gasped, trying to pull away, 'You are my father!'

'Yes, I am,' he said, pulling her head closer to his so their lips were millimetres apart, 'but this doesn't bother me.' He almost growled and he kissed her, forcing his tongue inside her mouth as she whimpered. He paid no notice and ran his hand further up the inside of her leg.

'God, he's a good kisser,' Leanne thought unconsciously, 'WHAT? No, no, no, no, no, no! You can't think that! This is wrong, oh please, someone, make it STOP!'

Finally he pulled away and Leanne stared at him wide eyed.

'You will join me in the shrieking shack at midnight. If you don't, you will regret it.' He said and left without another word.

Leanne just stared at the table, shaking uncontrollably, as she felt vomit coming up her throat. She turned around quickly and threw up all over the floor, hearing the two Hufflepuffs squeal in disgust. She whipped out her wand and quickly cleaned up the mess before standing up, planning to go to the hospital wing, but she had barely taken one step before everything started spinning and a blinding pain filling her head. She was barely aware of her own screaming and other's hurried footsteps as she collapsed on to the floor and knew no more.

Leanne awoke to the sound of hurried voices.

'Did you find them Severus?' Dumbledore's voice asked

'No,' came Snape's voice, 'I have searched all the grounds and the forest and there is no sign of them.'

Leanne wandered who they were talking about, and tried to move but she groaned with the pain from being stiff, and alerted them to her presence.

'Miss Burress, you're awake!' Said McGonagall, as Leanne opened her eyes and saw she was in the hospital wing again.

'What happened?' she muttered drowsily.

'That is what we would like to know,' said McGonagall, 'what happened at breakfast?'

'Breakfast,' she said thoughtfully, as it all came back to her as she sat bolt upright with a gasp, 'oh my god, what time is it?'

'Four in the morning,' said a rather confused McGonagall.

Leanne just sat there for a minute in horror, but then she remembered she wasn't going to go anyway. 'It doesn't matter. Who is missing?' she said trying to change the subject before they asked why she was so interested in the time.

'This may come as a shock,' McGonagall said quietly, as Leanne looked at her fretfully, 'but it is your sister and mister Randle.'

Her mouth fell open in shock as she realised her stupidity; Voldemort had another child at Hogwarts who he could use! She put her head in her hands as tears filled her eyes.

'Oh, god! How could I have been so stupid?' she sobbed, 'I should have told someone but I- I was too scared. Now he's gone and took Cree, I thought he was only interested in me! He never mentioned her.'

'What are you talking about Miss Burress?' Dumbledore said sharply.

'T-Tom is- isn't who you think h-he is; he's my father, he's Voldemort! I'm so sorry, I should have told someone!'

'How is this possible?' McGonagall gasped.

'He said that w-when he was seventeen he performed some seriously complex magic that would allow part of his sub-conscious mind to find an heir of Slytherin should he need their help or if their life was in danger; he found me last year when the dementors attacked me – he's the reason I'm so powerful, I've been channelling his magic!'

'This- This is unbelievable!' McGonagall gasped, 'but at breakfast- if he is your father, then why?'

At this Leanne sobbed even harder and brought her knees up to her chest.

'He was doing that t-to get to me, he said it didn't bother him!' she said looking up at the three teachers; Dumbledore was frowning, McGonagall looked as sick as she felt, and Snape looked revolted.

'I see,' said Dumbledore, 'did he say or do anything else?'

Leanne bit her lip slightly then looked up at Snape, 'He said he was going to kill you.' And Snape raised his eyebrows, with a look in his eye that clearly read, 'I can't say I'm surprised.'

'Is there anything else?' Dumbledore asked gently.

'It's just that, now that I haven't joined him, he will have stopped channelling his magic to me, so I will probably go back to being an average student with no means to defend myself if I ever run in to him or his followers.'

'Do not worry about that, we will arrange protection for you when you are not at Hogwarts, and we will be tightening security around the castle,' Dumbledore said, 'meanwhile, I suggest you get some much needed rest, Madam Pomfrey will give you a potion for dreamless sleep. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight Professors,' Leanne said quietly as Madam Pomfrey bustled over with a potion and the teachers left.

She quietly took the potion and sank into a deep slumber.

The next day when she woke she found Cree sitting next to her bed with puffy red eyes and a sad look upon her face.

'Cree?' Leanne whispered, sitting up to look at her sister, wandering whether this was a dream.

Cree jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, but then pulled her into a tight hug.

'They told me what happened,' Cree said as they seperated, 'I'm sorry; I should have been here for you'

'Where were you?'

'Tom tried to take me away with him, but when I heard about you I said I couldn't go. He said he knew where our parents were.'

Leanne sighed and looked at her; she had to tell Cree the truth about who Tom was...

Over the next week Leanne apologised to all her friends for the way she had been behaving, realised that she was going to have to study nearly all of the magic she had learned again, and had another lesson with Snape. She feared that she would have to start over again with occlumency too, but she was spared that upon finding that she was just as good as ever. However she was still having trouble with Legilimency, but she finally, after hours of being stuck in Snape's office, she succeeded in breaking in to his mind, if only for a brief second or two.

'You are not trying hard enough, again!' Snape spat at the totally exhausted Leanne.

'I am trying!' she said angrily.

'Clear yourself of emotion and let's try again,'

Leanne looked at him murderously, but did as she was told and took a deep calming breath.

'Legilimens,' she cried, pointing her wand at her teacher for what felt like the thousandth time that evening. And it worked. She entered his thoughts.

She and Snape were in his office and she was tracing the seams of his robes with her fingers before she pulled him into a kiss.

Snape had her up against a wall and she was screaming his name as she climaxed.

She felt herself being pushed out of his mind and she stumbled backwards and hit the floor with a sickening crack as her head made contact with it. Great, she thought bitterly as she sat up and rubbed her head, I need to work on my landings and I'm probably about to have another fight with Snape, even though my heads already bashed in. Leanne looked up at Snape who had gone the colour of sour milk and looked furious.

If it hadn't been for what happened with Voldemort, she may have just tried to laugh it off, but now she felt violated and threatened.

'What the hell was that?' she whispered in a deadly voice.

'Get out,' Snape said angrily, avoiding her question.

'Do you know what?' Leanne said as she stood up shaking with anger, 'I'm bloody fucking sick of this you know!' and before she knew it she was shouting, 'Why does it have to be me, why? Why can't I just have a normal fucking life? Why did I have to have that freak of a pervert as a father, and why do I have to have a freak like you having thoughts about me?'

'How dare you talk to me like that,' Snape snarled, taking a step towards her, 'Get out!'

'No!' she screamed, 'I want you to tell me what that was all about! Do you enjoy having those thoughts, do you? Does it make you feel good?' she yelled, her throat tearing with the strain of her voice as tears formed in her eyes.

'No, it doesn't,' he snapped raising his voice and taking yet another step forward so they were barely a foot apart, 'I hate it! I hate the fact I fell for a stupid little girl like you!'

'Well that makes two of us!' Leanne yelled, 'I can't believe you're thinking like that after everything that has happened to me! I feel violated enough as it is. Because of him I can't look at another man without feeling sick, and- and' her voice faltered, she whispered, 'I'm scared' she looked at the floor. Snape remained silent, still breathing heavily as tears poured down Leanne's face. 'I can't let anyone else in; I'm too scared!' she sobbed as she dropped her wand from her shaking hand, 'I'm scare that they'll hurt me again!'

'Leanne,' Snape said softly as he out her hands on her shoulders. She tried to shrug them off saying, 'Don't touch me!' but he held her fast, 'Leanne look at me,' he said and she reluctantly raised her eyes to his, 'I'm not going to hurt you. I promise,'

She looked at him through her tear filled eyes and nodded as he pulled her in to a tight embrace. She rested her hands on his torso and she felt... safe.


	18. The second task

The second task

Exiting the castle, Leanne walked down the path into the grounds, admiring what a beautiful day it was; the sun was shining, there were hardly any clouds in the sky and it just seemed like a good day although she couldn't pinpoint why.

Leanne approached the lake to a loud round of applause from the audience to whom she wave and smiled. She looked at the other champions to see one was missing – Harry wasn't there, and it was nearly time for the second task to begin! She looked around at the crowd and the judges and champions to see that they were also confused over Harry's absence. So much for a good day, she thought. But knowing Harry, he would probably arrive at the last minute, so she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, and focused on what was to come.

She wandered whether or not she would be able to complete this task; she didn't know how much she had been relying on Voldemort's powers. However, all she had to do was go into the lake, find something she would sorely miss, and come back to the surface within an hour, without drowning; the major problem. Seeing as she would need air, she decided to use a simple bubble-head charm to allow her to breathe. The champions changed into swimming costumes and waited.

All too soon they were told to approach the lake just as Harry came running up to them. Leanne smiled at him as he bent over clutching a stitch in his side trying to regain his breath. But before he had a chance to, the signal to start was given and Leanne performed her charm and dove into the water and began swimming away. Everything was a green-blue colour and her visibility was poor. She could see various water plants near the bottom (the water there wasn't too deep), but no sign of any creatures so far. It would have been much easier to swim if she could have had flippers, but unfortunately she didn't have any, which was a shame really, considering she didn't really know how to swim. She struck out with her arms and legs, gaining a steady pace once she was used to the pressure of the water.

There were no creatures at all in the lake, which Leanne found very odd, and after about half an hour of creature less swimming, she was becoming very bored and tired, until finally she could hear the song from the egg, and dimly saw four figures in the distance floating in the water – Harry was already there. She swam over to him and looked at the other three people who were unconscious but looked fine; they must be the things they would sorely miss, she thought. There was Ron, Hermione, and Fleur's sister there, but no-one else. She was sure Ron was for Harry, and Hermione was for Krum, and was obvious who the little girl was for.

She looked at Harry who was just as confused as she was, but also relieved that she was there. Harry just shrugged at her and shook his head when she asked whether any of the other champions had already been. This was when Leanne noticed what he looked like; a fish! His hands and feet had become webbed and he had grown gills either side of his neck. Resisting the urge to laugh, she signalled that she was going back up to the surface.

'What's going on?' she thought as she swam upwards. It was a long way to go and her limbs were aching with fatigue. Her head finally broke the surface and the stands erupted with cheers to see their first champion, but when they saw she was alone they looked sympathetic and almost disappointed.

Leanne swam to one of the stands and pulled herself out of the water in front of the teachers and judges, who crowded round her to see if she was alright.

'Are you hurt' said madam Pomfrey as she came over with a blanket and wrapped it tightly around her. Leanne shook her head and stood up, turning to professor Dumbledore, who took her aside away from prying ears.

'What's the matter? Couldn't you find them?' he asked, frowning slightly at her.

'No, I found them alright,' she said, still slightly breathless, 'but there was no-one for me' he frowned in obvious confusion and she continued, 'I'm right in saying that Ron was for Harry, Hermione was for Krum, and Fleur's sister was for her?'

'Yes,' said Dumbledore, 'and Cree was for you'

Leanne just looked at him for a moment, 'She wasn't there,' she said. Dumbledore looked worried.

'Are you sure?' he asked and she nodded. He quickly checked that no-one else was listening before saying, 'very well, I advise you tell no-one about this until we know for sure what has happened. '

'Do you think it was Voldemort?' she asked, voicing her worst fear, and he nodded gravely and said, 'there is no other explanation; who else would take her?'

Leanne sighed as tears and anger welled up inside her; was he ever going to give up? Why did he need them anyway? He had all his death eaters, so surely he didn't need a couple of teenagers. She felt the tears stinging her eyes; once again she had lost her sister. It was like losing her mother all over again whenever she went missing; the panic, the grief, not knowing what to do next and feeling completely helpless.

'Ironic,' she muttered to herself as an angry tear slid down her cheek, and Dumbledore looked questioningly at her, 'we were searching for the things we would sorely miss, and I arrive to find that mine is missing.'

She quickly wiped her tears away and regained her composure, and turned to Dumbledore saying, 'Professor, I need to go looking for her'

But Dumbledore stamped down on that idea, 'No, your life is worth too much to throw away,'

'What about my sister's?' she said angrily, staring at Dumbledore's calm demeanour 'is her life not worth as much?'

'I did not say that,' he said calmly, 'but until we ascertain whether it was with force or willingness she was taken, we must rush into anything.'

'Wha- 'she said blankly, then it hit her; Dumbledore was thinking to when Cree had confronted her about their father in the great hall, in front of the whole school. She had seemed pretty happy that her father was so powerful, regardless of whom he was. Cree hadn't been ashamed, but would she really join the dark side like that? Leanne looked angrily down at the floor, her fists clenched at the idea of having to fight against her sister.

'Why does he want us?' she asked the headmaster quietly, not looking at him.

'I'm afraid that I do not know, he said gravely, 'but it is obvious that you have something he wants, or he would have found Cree first; she would be the logical choice, seeing as she is in Slytherin.'

Leanne thought on this for a moment, she had never really questioned why Voldemort had chosen her; she had just accepted it because at the time she had been more powerful than her sister. Now that the powers from her father had been taken away everything was so much harder. Spells could no longer be performed with a simple flick of her wand; she had to study so much harder than before to master them. One thing she did excel at however was potions, for that didn't require magical power. All that was left in her was a mediocre magical energy and a terrible thirst for knowledge and power, she hadn't told anyone of this, but she missed the strength she'd had, and sometimes found herself thinking she would do anything to have back again, but that was Voldemort's plan, wasn't it? To make her want his strength so badly she would join his side, and even though she was ashamed to admit it, it was working.

A loud round of applause broke out and Leanne and Dumbledore turned to see Hermione and Krum surfacing the water. She quickly turned to the headmaster, a thought in mind, 'Professor, what should I say happened to Cree, I mean it's going to be pretty obvious she's missing once all the champions are back up.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then he said, 'Say nothing, but if they ask, you will have to tell them she is missing, but do not give any details.'

Leanne nodded and hurried off to greet Hermione and Krum who were being pulled into blankets that were as tight as strait jackets by madam Pomfrey. Not long after, Harry arrived, dragging with him Fleur's sister and Ron. Upon seeing her sister Fleur dragged them out of the water and rained kisses upon the two boys who turned bright red and earned an exasperated look from Hermione.

'We will now award the points,' Dumbledore's voice rang across the stadiums full of spectators, and everyone fell silent, but Leanne wasn't listening. She dimly registered the cheering of the spectators, and the claps she got on her back, but she was too preoccupied in her thoughts to pay attention. She had so many questions that needed answering.

Would Cree really have joined Voldemort's side so easily? Would she have gone without question? Did she believe in Voldemort's ideals, the dark side's ideals? Would she fight her own sister with a father she never knew, and was she going to help resurrect him?

Leanne pulled herself out of her own thoughts to see the rest of the school leaving the stadium. She walked with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were talking about Harry and Leanne being tied in first place, in silence until she couldn't avoid talking any longer.

'Leanne, are you alright?' Hermione asked frowning at her.

'Yeah I'm fine,' she said smiling at her concern. But this was a lie, right now all she wanted to do was break down and cry herself to sleep, but she knew enough occlumency to hide it. Hermione looked straight into her eyes and decided she wasn't lying, so she pursued the matter no longer.

'Leanne,' Harry said as they walked up the path to the castle, still draped in the towels madam Pomfrey had given them, 'where is Cree?'

Leanne said nothing; she was trying to decide what to tell them. If she told them the truth they would worry, but she would have someone other than Dumbledore to talk about it, on the other hand she didn't want to have to think on it anymore to make them have anything else to worry about. She sighed, deciding to tell them the truth; it would always come out in the end anyways.

'I don't know,' she said quietly as they walked in to the entrance hall, 'she was supposed to be in the lake for me to rescue her but she's gone missing... again.'

'What?' the three of them gasped in unison before Leanne hurriedly shushed them, 'can we talk about this in private? It's just I don't want anyone to know or question me about it.'

They nodded and followed her up the marble staircase and into an empty classroom. They shivered as they entered the freezing room and sat on the dusty tables.

'What's going on?' Ron said as Leanne pulled out her wand and locked the door.

'I don't want to be disturbed,' she said then pointed her want at the empty fire place and conjured, to her frustration, a small fire. Leanne looked angrily at her wand, for a moment seriously considering snapping it, before putting it back in her pocket. The four of them shifted closer to it to keep warm. Leanne stared in to the flames for a full minute as the others waited anxiously for her to speak.

'What I'm about to tell you is in the strictest confidence,' she said in a quiet voice, 'no-one is supposed to know but you three deserve to after all you've faced the past few years.'

None of them said anything; they just stared at her with bated breath, waiting for her to continue speaking. Leanne was finding it incredibly difficult to find the right words to say, whilst keeping check on her occlumency as well.

'Professor Dumbledore and I believe,' she said slowly, 'that Voldemort-'Hermione and Ron flinched at the sound if his name, 'has taken Cree.'

Hermione inhaled deeply and sat up straighter as if controlling herself, Ron gaped at her, his mouth wide open, and Harry remained motionless.

'But, why?' Hermione asked, and Ron said, 'don't worry, they'll find her, Dumbledore will find her.'

Leanne gazed back into the flames for a second then Harry voiced her very thought, 'Only if she wants to be found.'

Leanne nodded, but the other two looked confused. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione's confused expressions then explained further, 'A while after our names came out of the goblet of fire, Leanne and I were going into the great hall when we were stopped by Malfoy. He tried to get Leanne to sit with the Slytherins but she refused, so her sister started saying how she should be in Slytherin because of their father. Cree was saying how they should be proud to be his daughters and that he was the greatest sorcerer that ever lived.'

Leanne looked at the three of them who all had dark looks on their faces.

'Our point is,' she said, once again drawing their attention, 'that there is a chance she joined them willingly.'

At this there was complete silence and Leanne knew exactly what they were thinking; what if she did the same. Finally the silence was broken by Ron who spluttered, 'but how could you-know-who take Cree, he's dead isn't he.'

Leanne looked at them pitifully for a moment; they still didn't know Tom's true identity, she had just told them he had went to look after a sick relative when he disappeared. She took a deep breath and told them.

'Tom,' she said, feeling a lump rise in her throat, 'T-tom Randle was Voldemort.' Leanne blinked back the tears that she wouldn't let fall and took deep calming breaths to rid her anger.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at her in horror, but Harry also with anger.

'Voldemort was here, in the castle,' he said, his voice shaking with fury, 'and you never told us. You actually made us talk to him and befriend him?' he whispered the last part and to an angry step towards her.

Leanne looked him straight in the eye, forcing herself to bury her emotions.

'I only found out at the Yule ball, and the next day he left, and tried to take Cree with him then, but he didn't tell her who he was, he just said he knew our parents,' she said in a deadly whisper worthy of Snape which made the other three recoil, 'and before you even think that I would join him too, just let me say this; I would rather die than betray my friends. You don't know what I've been through lately and I didn't say anything to protect you; you had enough to worry about without me adding to your problems. No matter what he tries to do to me next I will never join him purely for threat of my own life.'

Harry looked at her blankly for a moment before moving his gaze to the floor and muttering an apology. Leanne shook her head.

I'm the one who should apologise; I should have told you what was happening' she said quietly. There was a moment's awkward pause before Hermione spoke.

'You said 'whatever he tries to do next'' Hermione said tentatively, 'what has he already tried to do?'

Leanne shifted her gaze once again to the fire.

'He tried to lure me with lust for him,' she said as Ron spluttered in disgust.

'What!?' he yelped, 'h-he tried t-to make you-'

'Lust after him, yes' Leanne finished for him. Suddenly she felt a flare of anger within her as she remembered the feel of him, his taste. Her eyes flashed crimson red, her features became gaunt and hollow, and she felt like nothing more than to strike, to kill anyone, anything. The three others in the room backed away hurriedly, but it was over in a second.

She shook her head to rid herself of the images and closed her eyes.

'Now he is trying to lure me with thirst for power,' she said, perhaps more viciously than intended, 'I was so powerful because he was channelling his magic to me, and now that I have refused to join him, he has taken it away. If I join him he will give it back.'

She opened her eyes and looked at her friends. Leanne knew that this was a lot for them to take on board, but they had to know the whole thing now that she'd started telling them. The next time she spoke it was with a softer voice with an ounce of pleading in.

'And it's working,' she whispered, 'I'm so frustrated that everything isn't as easy as it used to be, that I'm not as powerful. You have to help me. Don't let me go over to his side.'

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Sorry I took so long to update but I've been really busy with coursework. isn't a very good chapter but still R&R lol xox


	19. Mum?

Chapter 19 – Mum?

Sorry I haven't updated in so long it's just my school is making me take my GCSE's early so I've been revising a lot lately. I've decided just to get on with the story so it isn't going to be as long as I'd planned so – sorry to the people who may like this story!

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Before anyone knew it, the next few months had passed and the day of the third and final task was upon them. For Leanne it was a time of upmost tension and worry. Cree still hadn't shown up, nor had they heard from her at all, also Leanne hadn't heard anything from Voldemort – which she was quite relieved about in all honesty.

She, Harry, Ron and Hermione headed down to breakfast on the day of the tournament and sat down at the Gryffindor table, the two champions looking too nervous and ill to eat. Hermione and Ron were in lessons that day and were rather envious that the other two got to miss history of magic, whilst Harry and Leanne were rather envious that the others didn't have to do the third task.

'Oh come on, cheer up!' Ron said as he tipped enormous amounts of sausage onto his plate, 'it's the last one, you'll be fine. You got through the other two didn't you.'

Harry made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat and went back to staring at his empty plate, whilst Lexi gave Ron the best death glare she could muster. He glanced up at her and jumped slightly at the sight of her glaring at him so intensely.

'What?' he asked non-plussed.

'If you would kindly remember my sister went missing in the last task, thanks to Voldy-baldy (her new nickname for him) taking her away,' she said through gritted teeth, as Hermione snickered at Ron looking petrified and apologetic.

'S-sorry,' he stammered and the three of them laughed at how easily she scared him. They continued their breakfast chatting happily (even Harry cheered up) until the bell went signalling the start of lessons. Ron and Hermione bid them goodbye as the left for their all-time favourite lesson (sense the sarcasm) history of magic.

Leanne chewed thoughtfully on a piece of bacon as she looked around the emptying hall, and glanced up at the staff table in time to see Snape heading for lessons. She watched after him for a moment, thinking of how awkward things had been since their last encounter in which she had discovered he had been fantasising about her. Since then they had not exchanged a single word in lessons, nor made eye contact, and their occlumency/Legilimency lessons had been cut short. It was strange how a moment of intimacy and understanding could have pushed them further apart. She often though that she could feel his eyes on her at times, but she never looked up at him, just vaguely wandered if he ever still thought about her in the way that he did. She never told anyone what she had seen because she knew they would be horrified, but sometimes she found herself almost hoping that he did still think of her in that way. She couldn't say why but she found herself thinking of him too – not consciously of course, but once or twice she would wake up in the middle of the night after a particularly arousing dream with her heart pounding and a layer of sweat covering her body. Also very recently she found that on the rare occasion that their eyes met that she would jump a little and her heart would flutter. She used to just push this to the back of her mind and pretend that it was just the stress of life playing tricks on her, but now it was harder to do that as the imminent truth was pressed upon her in a moment of realisation that happened just the previous night – she was falling for him, a teacher, a slimy git that nobody liked had captured her heart.

'So what are we supposed to do then?' Harry asked Leanne, bringing her out of her reverie.

'Oh, err- I don't know,' she said but was spared of thinking of something to do by McGonagall approaching

'Mr. Potter, Miss Burress,' she said upon reaching them, 'the champions families have arrived to see the third task and they are waiting in the anti-chamber off the great hall, do try not to keep them waiting.'

Harry and Leanne turned to each other with petrified looks upon their faces as McGonagall left.

'She doesn't expect the Dursley's to turn up does she?' Harry asked aghast.

'She doesn't expect Voldemort to turn up does she? Leanne beat him down whiningly and they both shivered. Deciding there was no point in going to the chamber, they were just thinking about going to the library or an empty classroom to practice some spells when McGonagall called out to them from the room off the great hall and told them to hurry up and get in there. Harry and Leanne both exchanged perplexed glances at this but headed to the chamber anyways.

'Surprise!'

Harry and Leanne looked round in shock to see Mrs Weasley, and a boy with long red hair tied back in a ponytail with a dragon fang earring standing there.

'Mrs Weasley, what are you doing here,' Harry asked beaming at her.

'We came to watch you in the tournament!' she exclaimed happily as she pulled him into what must have been a bone-crushing hug. She then turned to Leanne smiling and said, 'I don't think we've been introduced, I'm Molly Weasley, Ron's mother, and this is my eldest son Bill.'

'Nice to meet you, I'm Leanne Burress,' she said smiling and shaking both their hands.

She was about to say something else when a voice came from the corner of the room, 'Leanne?'

Leanne turned round to see a tall, thin woman standing there. She had long brown hair, brown eyes and a smooth, beautiful face which reminded her somewhat of Cree. Her curiosity peaked at this, wandering whether this person was a biological relative or something as she approached the older woman.

'What?' she said softly, 'do you know me?'

'I-I, oh it is you!' the woman gasped, putting her hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes. Leanne frowned and thought she already knew the answer to her next question before she had asked it.

'Who are you?'

'I-I'm your mother,' the woman gasped as her weak knees gave way and she sank to the floor sobbing her heart out. Leanne just stood there in shock. It was the answer she had expected, but that didn't make hearing it any easier. Her brain seemed frozen – after all this time. After all this time of wishing and fearing it, the time had come. She couldn't deny she had been longing to find her real mother, but she had been scared that she was on the dark side. Although, looking down upon the sobbing woman, she couldn't help but think she was a good person, though she couldn't say why she was so sure.

'M-mum?' Leanne whispered and the woman nodded. It was as if the whole of reality had just crashed down on her. Her eyes filled with tears as she moved her shaking legs and knelt down in front of the woman; she had to know for sure. Their watery eyes met, and Leanne took a deep calming breath and prepared to invoke the best Legilimency she knew. It was easier than she'd expected because she wasn't resisted at all. What she saw startled her beyond belief.

She saw the woman before her being raped by Voldemort and twice she became pregnant, and twice her children were taken away from her. They were to be raised to aid the Dark Lord. This broke her heart. She heard of the plan to go after the potters and her former best friend's son, Harry. After Voldemort's downfall Snape told her what happened and he promised to take her daughters to safety, away from the dark side. He said they would have to stay with muggles so they were hidden. She knew she would have to stay or they would know Snape had helped her, but she didn't mind as long as her children were safe and away from the Dark side.

Leanne pulled out of her mind and stared at the woman.

'Mum,' she said and pulled her into a hug, both of them sobbing their hearts out as they knelt on the floor.

It took quite some time to calm the ladies down and they eventually were taken to the hospital wing for calming draughts. Afterwards, they sat and talked for hours. Leanne found out that Rose Burress had actually been her adoptive mother's cousin and Lily and James potter's best friends. She had been kidnapped by Voldemort and about a year later Cree had been born. The most amazing thing she heard was about how she had gotten free. It had been Snape. After he realised that Cree was Rose's daughter, he knew that he must find Rose. It took him a couple of months but he eventually found her location and hurried to free her. She had been incredibly weak and thin, so he took her to saint Mungo's, and told her, once she was well enough to hear it, that her daughter's were alive and well at Hogwarts, one in Slytherin, ne in Gryffindor. It nearly killed her when she found out Cree had been taken by Voldemort, and Leanne nearly had too. It shocked her just as much to find out that Leanne was in the tournament.

Next it was Leanne's turn to be shocked again. Her mother knew about Leanne's powers being controlled by Voldemort, and she said she knew how to stop him. The power had always been hers, he had just put a damper on them so to speak, and Rose knew how to reverse it. It was simple magic, but relatively untraceable, she only knew about it because Voldemort had done the same to her when she had been kidnapped. All it took was a potion. She said that Snape could brew it for her in less than an hour. Leanne didn't say anything to this, she just nodded. Her mother also told her something else; how to destroy Voldemort. He had made several horcruxes during his life-time and made the mistake of telling her what they were. Leanne just stared at her mother. She had just received the key to kill her father. She didn't know who to go and see first; Dumbledore to tell him what she knew, or Snape to thank him and ask for the potion. Her mother said Snape because her powers were the most important for the task ahead, but of course she didn't know about Snape and Leanne's situation. Leanne told her mother to get some rest before the tournament and made up her mind to follow her mother's advice and go and see Snape. If she was right, he would have a free period right now.

She bid her mother goodbye and headed down to the dungeons, her heart pounding against her chest. She paused outside the door for a moment then raised her shaking fist and knocked.

'Enter' came Snape's voice and Leanne shuddered and opened the door to his office. He looked up from the papers he was marking and raised an eyebrow when he saw her.

'Miss Burress,' he said coldly, 'what can I do for you?'

Leanne was startled at the way he spoke to her but she pulled herself together and spoke.

'I-I err, just wanted to say umm,' she began, refusing to look at him, 'well, err, thanks.'

'For what?' he said just as coldly as before, and it was Leanne's turn to raise an eyebrow.

'For rescuing my mother,' she said to the floor, ignoring the startled move he made, 'and for taking me to safety as a child.' After this she glanced up at him surveying her calculatingly.

'How did you find out?' he said.

'My mother is in the castle now; she came to see me before the tournament, and told me everything,'

Snape stood up and came around the desk slowly, 'Is she alright?' he asked, standing in front of her. Leanne began to shake ever more violently at their closeness, even though it was a normal speaking distance.

'She's just resting a bit now, before the tournament,' she said to a point jut over his shoulder and he nodded. She still needed to ask him for the potion but she doubted her nerves would allow it.

'Is there something else?' he asked her, almost gently, which startled her and she looked straight into his eyes. She faltered again.

'E-err, um, w-well, you know how I haven't been able to perform magic so well lately,' she said as he nodded, 'well it's because Voldemort cast a spell on me to weaken my magic, but there is a potion that can reverse these effects, a-and I was wandering whether you could make it for me.'

'The same one I made your mother?' he asked. Leanne glanced back up at him and nodded. Snape continued, 'it will take about an about to make so you should come back then.'

Leanne nodded and looked up at him again. She desperately wanted to say something to tell him how she felt, but she wasn't sure how he would react or if he even still wanted her.

'Is there anything else?' he asked again. Leanne looked at him again but couldn't tell what he was thinking so she shook her head and slowly headed for the door. She had nearly reached it when she heard Snape cross the room quickly, and he spun her around to face him. She didn't try to stop him as he lowered his face to hers and gently kissed her on the lips. It was as if someone had set off fireworks inside of her; this was amazing, she didn't realise how much she had really wanted this. Her eyes fluttered closed and she began to kiss him back. As she did so he wrapped his arms around her more tightly and held her close to him. After what seemed like an age they broke apart and looked at each other with small smiles on their faces.

'An hour,' Snape said to her and kissed her gently once more before she departed very reluctantly.


	20. The end of all things

**The end of all things**

Leanne's legs were shaking violently as she walked dazedly back up from the dungeons. She could honestly say that she was the happiest person on Earth right now – she had a mother, and now a lover. It was ironic in a way that this was the last day of the tournament, which could end her life, when it had really only just begun. She looked out into the ground as she crossed the entrance hall, wandering if she would ever get to see these grounds again after the final task.

Her train of thoughts carried her up the marble stair case and towards Dumbledore's office. She halted in front of the entrance then realised something; she had no idea in the world what his password was. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

'I suppose I could see him after the tournament' she said to herself, 'providing I live through it.'

She simply sighed again and turned away; her head was too busy to think clearly so she went and found an empty classroom to practice spells for the remaining time until she went back to the dungeons to get her potion.

Leanne found it hard not to be a bit scared, nervous and a little excited when she finally, after what seemed an age to her, went back to Snape's office and knocked on his door. If it was up to her she wouldn't have left in the first place but she knew he had to work. She heard his voice reply to her knock and entered apprehensively.

'Hi,' she said smiling nervously, fiddling with the sleeve of her robes in her hands.

He just nodded in reply, looking incredibly thoughtful as he ladled some of the steaming silver potion into a goblet and handed it to her.

'I'm sorry,' he said quietly as she took it, and she raised her eyebrows questioningly at him.

'About what?' she asked

'I had no right before; you are a student and I am a teacher – I am too old for you and besides, it is forbidden within the school,' he said, not quite meeting her eyes.

'What, I-'

'You should drink your potion and go,' he cut her off.

'B-But-'

'Don't!' he said sharply making her jump, 'just drink and go.' He turned away from her.

Leanne raised the goblet to her lips and drank with difficulty; it was not hot but a lump has risen in her throat and tears were pooling in her eyes. She drained it and set it down on a table, desperately trying to not let her tears fall – her weakness would not help the situation, but she couldn't help it.

'W-why?' she stammered as the first crystalline drop rolled down her cheek. He didn't turn around. 'I thought-'

'What did you think?' he snapped angrily at her over his shoulder, 'did you think that because of one mistake everything could change, the rules could change? You are living in a dream world and I suggest you grow up, miss Burress!'

She couldn't believe what she was hearing; an hour ago this man has kissed her passionately and made her the happiest person alive. Now he was taking that all back and calling it a mistake?

Leanne just stood there shaking for a few moments. Tears were flowing steadily down her face and she felt ill; she wanted to throw up, break down sobbing, but at the same time she wanted to kiss Snape and make him see that he was the one making a mistake now. But she was angry too – angry that he had used her and dumped her, broke her heart in two just when she thought it was whole.

'Fine then,' she said, her voice surprisingly calm and her eyes void of all emotion, 'just do me one favor. If I don't make it through this last task alive tell Dumbledore my mother knows the key to destroying Voldemort so he'll never come back.'

Snape didn't move, he just stood there rigid, with his back to her. 'What makes you think you won't come back alive?' he asked a trace of a forced sneer evident in his voice.

'I said if,' Leanne said evasively.

She turned and opened the door but didn't leave.

'I know you care for me,' she said her voice now shaking with tears, 'and I-I...' she squeezed her eyes shut for a second and willed herself to say what was in her heart, she had to say it now, 'I love you.'

And without further delay she sped form he room as Snape whipped round. Had he just heard her right? She loved him?

He turned back around slowly and lent over his desk, hands splayed on the top, his head down and his breath coming in short angry bursts. He slammed his fist down on the desk in frustration as he felt his eyes begin to water, 'You fool Severus Snape,' he muttered to himself, 'you complete and utter fool. Once again you drive away the one you love,'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

And that was the last time Severus Snape saw Leanne Burress alive. She went through the maze, her mind distressed, and reached the Tri-wizard cup at the same time as harry. As soon as they touched it they were transported to a graveyard where, unknown to either of them, Lord Voldemort and his two faithful servants, Peter Pettigrew also known as Wormtail, and Cree Burress, Leanne's sister lay in waiting for them.

They reached the graveyard and the high cold voice of the dark lord in his weakened form gave the order to 'kill the spare'. There was a flash of light and Leanne crumpled to the ground and knew no more.

Voldemort used Harry's blood to regenerate himself back to his former glory and the next few years were filled with much sorrow and suffering for all who lived through them.

But there was still light at the end of the tunnel; Harry, Ron and Hermione defeated Voldemort and brought an end to his reign of terror.

In the final battle Severus Snape also met his end, in the shrieking shack, where he gave his memories to Harry and died a true hero. He never knew that Leanne, the girl he fell in love with even after he swore he could never love again, had died thinking only one thing; 'Severus...'

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Well, what do you think? I was going to carry on the story longer but admittedly it wasn't that good. I may re-write this story so it is better, or I may do a sequel with Cree as my main character. Any reviews and feedback are appreciated .


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